With lambing time on the horizon, vets offer a reminder of best practice with a focus on low antibiotic use, colostrum quality and ewe nutrition.
While everyones main goal is to keep lambs alive, focusing on the plan, prevent and protect method instead of routinely using antibiotics was the advice from sheep specialists speaking during a recent National Sheep Association webinar.
Speaking at the webinar, sheep specialist, Fiona Lovatt and vets, Joe Henry of Black Sheep Farm Health and Georgina Barnhurst of Cross Counties Farm Vets, said it was never appropriate to give antibiotics routinely with a just in case justification.
And while they said they were not suggesting antibiotics should never belong in a lambing shed, it was instead important to manage the situations that could be managed.
Plan
Farmers were advised to plan ahead by focusing on ewe nutrition in the weeks before lambing, to ensure ewes are fit and healthy, and can produce quality colostrum.
Ms Lovatt advised farmers who lamb inside and feed forage, to complete a forage analysis eight weeks prior to lambing. She explained an analysis would provide an insight into the feed value of the forage, and aid farmers in feeding ewes the right diet to meet their requirements.
Mr Henry said blood testing ewes could provide an insight into ewe nutrition. We advise metabolic profiling ewes via blood tests, three weeks before lambing, especially for ewes being fed silage as it can be so variable.
He explained metabolic profiling provided a good guide to nutrition, as it showed what the ewes were producing from the silage and how much supplementation they may or may not be needing.
He said: If metabolic profiling is carried out too far away from lambing, ewes will not be on that metabolic knife edge. But if tested too close to lambing, there will not be enough time to change things.
Mr Henry also advised making sure ewes have sufficient protein in their diet. Make sure parasites are under control so they are not sucking the protein out of the ewes.
He explained energy within the diet was important for the last six weeks of pregnancy, however it was particularly important in the last two weeks.
Prevent
Keeping lambing pens clean could prevent the need for antibiotic treatment, suggested Ms Barnhurst.
She explained clients which had historically given all lambs a dose of oral antibiotics in-case of watery mouth, changed to mucking out lambing pens in between ewes, and as a result had no cases of watery mouth throughout the lambing period.
She said: They did need slightly more labour to do it, but overall, they found it a hugely positive change and a successful lambing.
To protect lambs from harmful bacteria and diseases such as joint ill, Ms Lovatt advised all feeding equipment should be regularly sterilised, in between uses.
She said: Hygiene is really important to prevent joint ill, as virtually anything can cause bacteria to get inside of the lamb. They might pick it up from the birth canal, the ewes teats, feeding tubes and bottle teats.
Protect
- With colostrum considered key to a successful lambing, Ms Barnhurst shared some of her top tips for colostrum management.
- Get colostrum into lambs as quickly as possible to protect them from harmful bacteria and developing watery mouth.
- Storage is important as bacteria can multiply if stored incorrectly colostrum can be stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours, however, if it needs to be stored for longer, it should be frozen, where it can be stored safely for up to a year.
- Use a Brix refractometer to measure colostrum quality the recommended measurement for sheep colostrum is 26.5 per cent for sheep.
