The first day of lambing is just around the corner and preparations are nearly finished. The last job is to build the individual small lambing pens. These are the pens that the ewe goes into once they have lambed. This gives the ewe a chance to mother up with her lambs and it also gives us the opportunity to make sure the lambs are sucking well and that the ewe is eating, etc.
Building the pens sounds like it is a simple task. Relatively speaking it is, but 
problems can occur if they are not built properly. We are now talking about tight security and I don’t mean we are protecting against sheep rustlers! The pen needs to be totally secure so that the little new born lambs can’t escape. A ewe is normally very protective once she has cleaned up her lambs and they are sucking. However, a very new born lamb who hasn’t quite got the hang of things can escape through any tiny gap. That’s when the trouble can occur. If a ewe has not had the opportunity to bond well with a lamb, there is a chance when the escapee is returned to her she can reject it.
If that happens it is a nightmare. The ewe can sometimes, but not always, get very aggressive and believe me, she will thrash the living daylights out of it. Not nice. If all else fails, the lamb has to be taken away and either fostered or put on the jolly bottle (please no!) So, as they say, prevention is better than cure and it will be belt and braces as the pen building takes place.
Here’s to a successful lambing and no rejects!
Janet
