Lamb Care

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Lamb Care

• By Jennifer Edge and Calvin Alford
• GA Agriculture Education Curriculum
  Office
• July 2001

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Colostrum

• Colostrum is a very digestible high energy
  source.
• Lambs are born wet with low energy reserves, so
  colostrum is needed to maintain energy reserves
  for body temperature and for antibodies.
• Lambs need colostrum the first 6 to 8 hrs of
  birth.

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Things to remember

• Always strip the ewes teats
• Lamb survival depends on a successful partnership
  between the lamb and ewe.
• 90 of mortality cases occur within one week of
  birth
• Causes include starvation, bad mothering, and
  exposure to the cold.

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Identification of Lambs

• To provide a unique way to identify each lamb in
  the herd
• Tells info about the lamb at a glance
• Done commonly with an ear tag gun
• Or a tattoo

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TINT Method

• Use the TINT method
• Tails
• Inject
• Navels
• Testicles

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Tail Docking

• Dock between seven and 10 days of age.
• Advantages of Docking
• Long tail doesnt interfere with lambing
• Docked lambs look more uniform in appearance
• Reduces a non-marketable product (tail)

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Inject

• In many parts of the world, lambs may need a
  selenium shot.
• At about three to four weeks, vaccinate lambs
  with Clostridium C D Toxoid to provide
  protection from overeating disease and tetanus.
  Repeat the vaccine two to four weeks later.

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Navels

• Dip navels after birth in an iodine solution.
• Untreated navels provide an excellent route for
  infectious agents to enter the lamb.

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Castration of Testicles

• Advantages of castration
• Prevents ram lambs from being discriminated in
  the market
• Increases daily weight gains
• Reduces unwanted pregnancies in your herd

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Methods of Docking Castration

• Burdizzo Clamp
• Castrates by severing the cord that carries blood
  to the testes
• Docks by crushing the arteries and tissues of
  tail, then a knife is used to cut the tail off.

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• Emasculator
• Has a crushing surface and cutting edge
• Used mostly for docking but used commonly in
  castrating horses or calves.

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• Elastrator
• Bloodless method of castration and docking.
• Uses heavy rubber bands to cut the circulation
  off to the tail or scrotum.
• Tetanus is associated with this method, so
  vaccinate with tetanus anti-toxin if using this
  method.

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