By the time this drops through sheep producers’ letter boxes, lambing will for many be underway; a bit of reading material may provide a useful distraction in those quiet, pre-dawn hours in the lambing shed. Hopefully all the hard work and preparation devoted to getting ewes to the point of lambing will be reaping dividends; good luck.
As I’ve said on previous occasions, lambing can be a period of juxtaposition. Things can swing from joy to deep depression all within a matter of a few hours; sheep, ewes in particular, seem to thrive in being enigmatic, no more so than at lambing. They have no concept of norms, nor empathy for the shepherd; in reality it often appears to be quite the opposite, they seem to delight in presenting with the odd conundrum, a challenging lambing, guaranteed to kerb the risk of any hubris.
There can’t be many other things in life that one looks forward to with so much enthusiasm, but, once started, one looks forward with equal or greater eagerness to their ending. Lambing is a time with long days of potential highs and lows, when things can get a little wearisome. With this in mind, just consider that a phone call to a fellow sheep producer may be both beneficial and welcomed, a call that provides an opportunity to share problems with someone in the same situation. Problems won’t go away, but the simple act of sharing just makes those tribulations feel a little less personal.
It is also a good time to reflect on a persistent and seemingly ever present problem, that of lamb mortality; lamb losses are regrettable, some almost inevitable, but average lamb mortality for the UK and across much of Europe has remained stubbornly at around 15% for decades; as an average this figure represents a spectrum, meaning that for all those producers managing to keep mortality relatively low, there will be others exceeding 15%. This is a figure I suspect most sheep producers are neither proud of nor would wish to share with the general public, but some seem to regard 15% as acceptable; it isn’t. It is a waste of one in every seven lambs born, and there are obvious costs associated with every lamb delivered, whether or not it survives. This level of mortality represents fifteen pence in every pound invested into producing those lambs simply being written off.
In half a century-plus, I have experienced numerous lambing sheds and different systems of managing lambing, both indoor and out, in all sorts of locations from hill farms in North Wales to the marshes of Kent, and I can guarantee that those with the least structured systems and untidy lambing sheds are those that are the most likely to have the highest levels of lamb mortality.
Minimising lamb losses (significant disease issues to one side) is generally about attention to detail and good observation, both in the approach to and preparation for lambing; nutrition, health and welfare of the ewe, facilities, etc. and during the lambing season; good observational and lambing skills, good hygiene, monitoring the new born lamb, endless patience and unflappability, etc.
Probably the most valuable tool during this critical period is the shepherd’s eye, followed closely by endless patience. In my opinion, rough handling of either ewes or lambs at lambing, often giving rise to an increased mortality, is simply unforgiveable. Without being anthropomorphic, a caring and nurturing approach to lambing is not being “soft” it is just common sense. It is also about attitude. Rather than accepting a 15% loss as the norm, setting a target of say, less than 10% mortality, will make a difference simply by virtue of the additional focus. Trade may be good at present and prospects for the year look reasonably promising, but the sheep production environment is dynamic, prone to changes and challenges; each and every lamb has a value.
I know it is a busy time, that lambers may be under considerable pressure, but that should not be an excuse; why spend a lot of time, effort and resources in maximising lambing percentage at one end of the process and accept what will, in most situations, be the biggest hit to the final lambing percentage at the other? Cutting corners and saving a bit of time may ease things at lambing time, but every lamb lost is potentially lost revenue, possibly £150-plus, an expensive way of saving time. For a flock scanned at 180%, mortality at 15% represents a loss of 54 lambs per 200 ewes; at a potential sale value of £150 per head, a revenue loss of £8,000-plus. Reducing mortality to 10%, which is not unrealistic, will cut income loss by about £2,600, a sum that will buy quite a bit of extra time at lambing. Give a thought for the lambs!
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