Lambing Pens

[CritterZone]

Does anyone confine their ewes with their new lambs after birth? I really want my hubby to keep the ewes and babies locked up for a minimum of two days - that way we can make sure everyone is healthy, eating, pooping - and things are going well. I think it also helps everyone to get to know each other so the babies know which ewe they belong to. Anyhow, the spouse hates to see the ewes confined away from the rest of the herd and sort of hurries them out of the barn. We have a couple lambs that just don't seem to know who they belong to and I think it is because he turned them out after 12 hours. Tonight I made him lock up one of the ewes and her twins because after three days, the ram lamb still doesn't know who his mom is and just stands in the barnyard calling for her, even when she is right next to him. Fortunately, she is an older ewe and very protective and attentive to her lambs.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

I pen most of my ewes after lambing for a couple of day. Not all of them need it but I'd rather confine them and not need it than keep them together and have a lamb get lost. My flock moves to several different pastures and then in to their night pen daily so the lambs really have to be confident about where their mom is and how to follow her to keep up with everyone. If I just had one big pasture they stayed on all the time I would be less concerned. It does make it a lot easier to process lambs when they're in a small pen instead of chasing them all around the pasture to tag and dock them.

I also have a ewe that can not stand any other sheep looking at her lambs for about a week after they are born. She spends all her time being nasty to the other ewes instead of caring for herself and her lambs. She needs to be stuck in a larger jug for about a week until she calms down and doesn't care as much about her babies. She's a great mom and has lovely lambs, she just needs some personal space for a while.

 

[purplequeenvt]

We put our ewes into a 5'x5' lambing jug right after they lamb. They'll stay in there for at least 2 days, sometimes longer if they need it.

 

[SheepGirl]

We sometimes jug our ewes, it really just depends on the age/experience of the ewe and how her lambs are doing. This year I didn't jug or pen up any of my ewes. Fortunately my most scatterbrained ewe was the first to lamb and she only had 1 so I made an exception for her. My sheep are in a 64x24 pen anyway, so they are kind of confined. I will probably jug my ewe lamb that is due to lamb a week before her first birthday though.

At my neighbor's farm, we would jug ewes anywhere from a couple of hours to 2-3 days. Sometimes I would beg my neighbor to keep them in there longer until the next ewe lambs so I could play with the lambs longer without trying to chase them through their pasture He didn't mind so the pens in the barn were pretty much always full lol

 

[CritterZone]

I pen most of my ewes after lambing for a couple of day. Not all of them need it but I'd rather confine them and not need it than keep them together and have a lamb get lost. My flock moves to several different pastures and then in to their night pen daily so the lambs really have to be confident about where their mom is and how to follow her to keep up with everyone. If I just had one big pasture they stayed on all the time I would be less concerned. It does make it a lot easier to process lambs when they're in a small pen instead of chasing them all around the pasture to tag and dock them.

I also have a ewe that can not stand any other sheep looking at her lambs for about a week after they are born. She spends all her time being nasty to the other ewes instead of caring for herself and her lambs. She needs to be stuck in a larger jug for about a week until she calms down and doesn't care as much about her babies. She's a great mom and has lovely lambs, she just needs some personal space for a while.

We have Jacob Sheep too, and they are awesome moms, and knock on wood, birth easily. It sounds like we have a similar management practice. Ours are "locked in" at night in their barn area, but they have access to about an acre pasture. During the day we let them out (we have 200 acres) and they move a lot, so the babies must know who they belong with. My hubby is new to sheep, and he hates locking up a ewe when everyone else is out and about. He has asked a lot of questions from one of the breeders we purchased animals from, but their day to day management practice is different than ours, so convincing him that her methods may not work for us has been a bit of a struggle. He thinks I am being a bit overprotective, but when you are talking about a ~3 pound lamb, you can't be too cautious.

 

[bonbean01]

We confine our seasoned ewes with healthy lambs for at least a day to be sure that nursing has been well established before letting them out with the rest...the first timers are confined for 2 to 3 days depending on how nursing is going. None of our ewes has showed any interest in joining the rest and I think it gives them some recovery time from birthing without the stress of a lamb wandering off or keeping the others away from the new lamb.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

My hubby is new to sheep, and he hates locking up a ewe when everyone else is out and about. He has asked a lot of questions from one of the breeders we purchased animals from, but their day to day management practice is different than ours, so convincing him that her methods may not work for us has been a bit of a struggle. He thinks I am being a bit overprotective, but when you are talking about a ~3 pound lamb, you can't be too cautious.

Everyone does things differently and it can take a while to go from "well so and so/the book says to do x y and z!" to "well this is what works for my situation". Personally I worry because lambs can go downhill so quickly, I really want to give them the best chance possible for the first 3 days to a week. After that they seem to be a lot more rugged.

The only time my ewes mind being alone is if I put them in a jug when I think they're in labor but they aren't really. If they already have lambs on the ground or if they're in active labor that's the only thing on their mind and they don't seem to care what all their friends are up to. They all seem to enjoy their private area with extra goodies and some time to recover from lambing.

 

[doxiemoxie]

In addition to what everyone else is saying penning them up makes it much easier to check on them, and to get ahold of them if there are any problems or you decide to so some sort of treatment. I also think it allows the babies to get a better sense that humans close by are part of their normal environment. In the previous place I lived my animals were in an orchard and their "pens" were just straw bales that moms could easily leave but gave a sense of boundary to the babies. Last night I got my first set of ewe lambs and the wind is soooo feriggen cold I was very happy to have mom and babies locked in a stall.

 

[Bridgemoof]

Yes we put our ewes and their lambs in a lambing jug for a couple of days. For one, if it's really cold we can put on a heat lamp. We can also keep an eye on them and make sure they are okay. Plus I agree it gives them some private bonding and recovery time. We can also give the ewe some extra alfalfa or grain.