NSW drought: Local Land Services' lambing strategies

Research into reducing lamb mortality has found that the early bond between ewe and lamb is crucial for lamb survival and the risk of mis-mothering of lambs increases significantly when sheep are being hand fed.

“Ideally a ewe will spend over four hours with the lamb at the birth site, grooming the lamb immediately after delivery, helping the lamb to nurse, and cementing the maternal bond,” Dr Watt said.

However if the bonding process is disrupted, such as when the ewe bolts to the feed trail or heads for the self-feeder, mis-mothering can occur leaving the lamb vulnerable to starvation, exposure and predation.

Dr Watt said there were a number of strategies that would reduce the possibility of mis-mothering based on previous research including work undertaken at the Cowra Research Station.  

He said feeding ewes in the early afternoon allow the most time for mothering up before nightfall, while mob size and stocking rates also have an impact on lamb mortality.

“Managing twin bearing ewes in smaller mobs, separately from single bearing ewes, can significantly improve lambing success. It might also be possible to drift ewes that are yet to lamb, away from recently lambed ewes," Dr Watt said.

Researchers have found that ewes lambing in paddocks with short green feed do equally well when fed a grain/lupin mix from a self-feeder, or fed every second day from troughs.

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Dr Watt said self-feeders should be at least 50 metres from water and shelter.

Ideally each self-feeder should supply no more than 220 single ewes or 100 twin bearing ewes.

Trail feeding can give better control of the amount being fed.

Dr Watt said disturbance to lambing ewes could be further reduced by feeding 2-3 times a week rather than daily.

“Some sheep producers might choose to broadcast out albus lupins or faba beans onto paddocks to supply sufficient feed for several weeks, avoiding the need to trail feed,” he said.

“We’re also aware of producers who plan on using whole cotton seed dumped into the paddock, which ewes are inclined to eat slowly, rather than gorge in a single rushed feed.”

For further advice on lambing in dry conditions and supplementary feeding, contact your Central Tablelands Local Land Services vet or livestock officer.