Purdue Extension's Lambing School To Provide Birth-Management Training

Jan 23, 2015

Sheep and goat producers at any level of expertise are invited to learn more about the critical production phases of late gestation, lactation and care of newborns at Purdue Extension's annual Lambing School on Feb. 14.

The workshop, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., will focus on lambing and kidding procedures and factors that influence birth success, such as nutrition, reproduction, health considerations, lambing facilities and necessary management practices. It will be at Purdue University's Animal Sciences Research and Education Center Sheep Unit, 5675 W. 600 N, West Lafayette.

Presenters are Mike Neary, Purdue Extension small-ruminant specialist; Gerald Kelly, manager of the Purdue Sheep Unit; and Michael Hill, professor of food animal production medicine in the Purdue College of Veterinary Medicine. Participants will have the opportunity to view and participate in live sheep births.

Registration is $35 per person and is due by Feb. 5. Attendance will be limited to the first 40 registrants. Fees include breakfast, lunch and educational materials.
The workshop brochure and registration form are available on the Purdue Extension sheep website at http://www.ansc.purdue.edu/SH/.

Source:ag.purdue.edu

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.