the birth of the sheep

The sheep birthing process starts when the ewe begins contractions and begins getting up and down frequently. She will paw the ground. The ewe will lie down and push with her nose up in the air. At this point, leave the sheep alone and don’t disturb. Observe them quietly.Show more

The water bag will appear first. After the water bag appears, lambs should be on the ground in about ½ hour to 1 hour. If you are there, make sure the lamb’s mouth and nose are clean of mucous and fluid. Make sure the lambs are breathing.

Allow the ewe to claim the newborn lamb and dry it off. You can assist, if she will let you. Make sure the ewe isn’t going to have another lamb. Put the ewe and lamb in the lambing pens. Shake out two flakes of straw in the lambing pens. Setup the heat lamp. Don’t set up the lamps to low or it will burn the ewe. Clip and iodine the navel. Clip the navel to one inch long and dip in 7% iodine.

Strip the teats. Make sure the milk is flowing from both teats. Make sure each lamb gets a good drink. Wait till the lambs have nursed on their own before giving the ewe a flake alfalfa hay and water.

If the lambs have arrived before you did follow the same steps. Check the ewe and lambs again in 1 ½ hours to make sure the ewe owns the lambs and they are nursing properly. The ewe will normally pass the after birth in one or two hours. Do not attempt to pull the after birth out.