How long to keep them in the jug?

[Amy in NH]

We've been keeping sheep for the past five years as a 4-H project, with no livestock experience before that (aside from chickens - "the gateway livestock").

We had a ewe surprise us with lambs last week. We tried to breed her in November so that she would lamb in March, but it turns out she was already bred! Oops!

This is only our second time lambing. The first time we had only two ewes. We brought them to another farm to have them bred. We only had one stall set up. One of the ewes had a difficult labor and then rejected her lamb. We couldn't keep them together because of the barn setup (she was throwing him across the barn), so we ended up bottle feeding him. Since then, we have set up another stall for our rams, and a lambing jug in between that can be used as a creep feeder. We let the whole flock out every morning so they can get to the round bale, and put them in at night to protect them from the coyotes.

After Ophelia had her twins last week (dropped them in the snow - good thing we figured it out right away!), we put the three of them in the jug so they wouldn't be disturbed, to get them established. We set up a heat lamp on one end which we kept up for about 5 days. It has warmed up a bit since then, and the lambs seem happy and healthy, but it will get very cold again next week according to the forecasts. We've been keeping the barn door closed during the day to keep out drafts. Ophelia has been very lonely, even though she has her lambs with her. She cries and cries when the flock goes out and throughout the day, and keeps standing up on the jug fence to try to see where her friends have gone instead of focusing on her lambs. Here is my question:

How old should the lambs be/what temperature should it be outside, before we let them all rejoin the flock?

This looks like a great forum for shepherding support! Can't wait to hear back from some of you experienced sheep-keepers!

 

[BrownSheep]

I would make certain that have access to the indoors from now on but I generally jug mine for three days sometimes less if we have a busy couple days. After three days they go a little stir crazy . Our lambs and ewes will generally split up for and hour or so if the weather is really cold. The lambs will stay in under the lamp while ewes graze and every so often she'll go back and nurse them. Ewes are pretty good about keeping their lambs warm so as long as they seem peppy I would let them out.

 

[Royd Wood]

yes 3 days here too or there abouts
I dont do heat lamps for lambs - use them all for my piglets

 

[goodolboy]

We field lamb now, no jugs. When we had our wool sheep, we would jug them for 24hrs per lamb. then we turned them back in with the flock. The temp really isn't a factor as long as they have shelter. There is studies that say housing them for too long, then putting them back into the eliments can effect even the ewes ability to stay warm. In real cold weather you can feed something with high energy, like corn, to help them out also. Hope I was some help. Oh, where's the pics?

 

[purplequeenvt]

We jug differently according to each situation. Some ewes stay in 3-5 days, some only 2. It all depends on how everyone is doing. If the weather is colder and we have the space, they stay in longer. If it's really nice then they might be released early.

We don't use heat lamps in the jugs, but sometimes, if the weather is really cold, we'll put one in the creep to lure the lambs in there.

 

[Shelly May]

what breed of sheep do you have? some ram breeds will try to mount momma again in as little as 2-3 months
after lambing, Might not want to put ram in with (hair breeds). Some rams will be mean to babies, Need to really
watch for this. I would do something so that they the lambs, can get into the shelter if they start to cool. On their
own, this time of year.

 

[Amy in NH]

Thanks!

We kept them in because the lambs were shivering with the door open. Then it started to warm up outside. It's been in the low 30s for the past few days, and they seem to be warm enough even without the heat lamp. But it's supposed to be back down in the single digits in the next few days (and negative numbers at night). Should I open the door and let them all out, but set the heat lamp back up in the creeper? The round bale is probably 50 yards from the barn and we just got 5 inches of fresh snow yesterday. Not too deep? I just want to make sure they are warm enough and can find their way back to the barn.

The rams are afraid of the lambs. They try to hide in the corner when the lambs get close.

The lambs are Rambioullet X Merino.

 

[Shelly May]

Do you have the option of leaving door part way open, So they can go in and out if they want too?

No at this age shouldn't need heat lamp, if they are nursing from mamma and good health (IF).

Maybe you can do something red neck-ish, During the day, while mamma is eating hay with the rest
of the flock, can you buy a Truck topper, Used cheap? the kind that the door opens in the back, you
will want to rig door so no one could close it on accident, and set it out close to the hay, so babies
can duck in there if they want, bed it with straw or hay and they will now be protected from the snow.
just a idea

 

[Amy in NH]

I let them out with the ewes, to introduce the lambs to them first, even though they've had contact in the barn through fencing. I couldn't be home all day to watch, so that's what I felt comfortable with. It was 30*F when I left at noon; it is down to 10*F now. It is supposed to be -4F tonight. I had a lamb blanket made of an old towel that we used with our bottle baby, and put that on the smaller lamb. I just whipped up another towel/blanket, and I'll put it on the other guy when I go out in a bit. I turned the jug back into a creeper and set up the heat lamp up over it, so they can get warm if they want to.

Ophelia is back with her friends, the lambs can get to the heat lamp in the creeper, and they've got blankets. I should be all good, right?

Argh. This is why I wanted to wait until spring to lamb!