By now youth are preparing their barns for new arrivals, lambing season is here!  The barn and the ewes are ready but what about the youth working with these animals?  Here are some helpful reminders and suggestions to be prepared when lambs arrive.  Once the ewe has successfully delivered a lamb some good management practices to follow are:

• Plastic Gloves: Wearing gloves is strongly encouraged to help minimize the spread of disease between the lamb and the person handling the lamb.
• Check Lamb Breathing: Clear the mouth and nose from any fluid making sure the lamb is able to breathe freely.  One way to check if a lamb can breathe is to push a small piece of straw up the nasal cavity; this will encourage the lamb to sneeze.
• Dry the Lamb: In a draft free area, place the lamb on dry bedding close to the ewe, the mothering instincts of the ewe will start to kick in and she should take care of cleaning the lamb off completely.  It is also handy to keep clean towels close by to help dry a lamb off quickly, especially during the cold days of winter.  Old bath towels work best, just check with mom first!  Securely hanging heat lamps above the pen will also help take the chill off a lamb.
• Clip & Dip: Have a pair of disinfected scissors ready to clip the navel, leave 1-2inches attached to avoid the naval bleeding and causing a possible infection site.  Then, dip the navel in a 7% iodine solution to also help prevent infections entering the lamb’s body.  Rubbing alcohol is a cheap resource to keep in a kit to disinfect scissors and other objects.
• Colostrum: (ewe’s first milk) Lambs should nurse within the first hour after birth to consume the nutrients and antibodies colostrum contains.  The ewe’s teats have wax plugs that need to be milked out before colostrum or milk can flow.  Make sure milk is flowing so the lamb can nurse.  The milk will have a yellow color and is often very thick for the first few hours.  If a lamb appears weak or hesitant to nurse, have a syringe and stomach tube available to quickly tube feed the lamb.  Feed the stomach tube slowly down the throat of the lamb, do not force it.  Attach the syringe to the tube and slowly pour milk into the syringe.  Let gravity push the milk through the tube.

Lamb survival within the first 24-48 hours can be greatly influenced by these simple management practices.  The leading cause of death in new born lambs is pneumonia.  Getting lambs dry and making sure they receive colostrum are the best measures producers can take to prevent pneumonia and to simply get the lambs off to a good start.  The National 4H Sheep Curriculum and The Ohio State University Sheep Resource Handbook are excellent guides for youth to follow along during this phase of lamb management.  Parents looking for more detailed information should consult area sheep producers or the Sheep Production Handbook by the American Sheep Industry Association, Inc.