Lambing season is in full swing. If you are new to sheep and this is your first lamb crop, you are likely a bit nervous and apprehensive about what to expect. You are probably also curious about what signs you should be watching for. So today we are going to look at pictures of and discuss the changes we see in our ewes in the weeks leading up to lambing. Then we are going to look at what is normal to expect throughout the lambing process.
Let’s start by stepping back to the beginning. As you likely already know, gestation length for a sheep is about 5 months. If you saw your ewes get bred, you can mark 147 days on the calendar and can loosely predict their lambing date. This takes all the guess work out of it. Unfortunately, sheep are pretty discreet about getting bred, and many times you don’t see the actual event. Nonetheless, there will be signs that your ewe is bred.
The first thing you will notice is that she develops a distinct pregnant shape when you are looking at her from behind.
You can usually start to see this distinct look 2-3 months after they get bred. Keep in mind that ewe lambs typically only have a single lamb and are less likely to look pregnant early on. An adult ewe carrying a single might not look pregnant at all, but those carrying twins or triplets start to look pregnant quickly.
The shape we are describing can be seen in the picture below. She will of course look much rounder than a non-bred ewe, but she also develops a distinct shape due to her anatomy. If we look at the internal anatomy of a sheep from standing behind them we know that their rumen is high on the left side, and the lambs are carried low on the right. In the picture, on our pregnant ewes right side you can see a low lamb belly. Above the lambs is often a sort of straight flat ‘shelf’. The lamb bulge also often protrudes out further from their side than the rumen bulge does.
The next sign you are going to see is udder development
Now, udder development tells us that our ewe is for sure bred, but in our experience it is a terrible predictor of imminent lambing. Some ewes start developing an udder 2 months in advance. Other ewes seemingly fill their udder as the lambs are arriving. We have some of both in our flock though the majority of our ewes are somewhere in between. Most ewes probably make their udder within a couple weeks of lambing.
That being said, we find that our ewes tend to be fairly consistent about when they develop their udder. The ewes that do so 2 months in advance consistently produce an udder early. If you really get to know your ewes you may be able to approximate when they might lamb from their udder. However, we think there are better ways to estimate, and only use udder development as an indication that lambing is getting close so that we should start watching for other signs.
A more reliable predictor in our experience is watching for the ligaments around their tail to loosen
Prior to lambing the ligaments holding the sheep’s hips will loosen in preparation for lambing. This is easy to see. You will notice that she gets sunken spots on either side of her tail head. When this happens, you know that lambing is getting close. We find that in many cases our ewes will lamb within 24 hours of developing deep sunken spots by their tails, but it may be a few days, particularly for some of the older ewes. In some of the younger ewes/ewe lambs, this will be harder to see, and in the case of ewe lambs you might not notice it at all before they lamb.
Again, just like with udder development, the better you know your ewes the more predictable they become. We have an ewe that *seems* ready to drop lambs any minute for about a week prior to lambing. She does this every single year. Other ewes we have sneak out lambs every year.
After her ligaments have loosened, you might also be able to see that the lambs have ‘dropped’
In preparation for birth, the lambs have to line themselves up appropriately. As they do this and prepare to enter the birth canal, your ewes will often develop large sunken spots on their sides right in front of their hips, and a big bulging belly. They might look thinner than they have in a while. If you notice this then you can be sure that your ewe is preparing to lamb.
We don’t personally find that this is always as easy to see as the ligaments loosening. This is probably because the lambs move about during gestation, and your ewes abdomen changes shape depending on the position of the lambs. We also find that some ewes develop much more distinct sunken spots than others do.
If you see an ewe with loose ligaments or sunken areas in front of her hips, start watching her closely for behavioral changes that indicate she is in early labor
Usually when we go out to feed in the morning we can pick out ewes that are likely to lamb that day based on their behavior. Ewes in early labor might not come to breakfast, or they may be slow to come. You might see them standing/laying off by themselves looking uncomfortable. You also might see her pawing the ground frequently or baaing like she is talking to lambs. She will likely also stand up and lay down a lot and shift her weight around on her back feet. Ewes in early labor typically pick a location they plan to lamb in and they keep returning to that spot.
If you see an ewe displaying these behaviors, watch her closely, but do not disturb her. Though it is tempting to get involved, let her be. The majority of ewes can lamb unassisted. If you interfere when its not needed, you can cause more harm than good. Most ewes will progress from early labor to active labor within a few hours, but some will take up to 12 hours. So be patient and give your ewes time and space as long as they are showing no signs of distress.
Usually within 2-6 hours an ewe will progress to active labor
You will know that your ewe has reached active labor when you see the amniotic sac protruding from her vulva. At this point the ewe is close to ready to expel her first lamb. Shortly after the amniotic sac presents you will see your ewe pushing. She will likely lay down on her side, get up, lay down again etc. Leave her be, this is normal. It usually takes about 20-30 minutes for the first lamb to be born. Then your ewe will clean off the first lamb and rest before birthing the second one. Both lambs are typically born within 45-60 minutes.
As your ewe starts to push, the amniotic sac will likely burst. You should see two hooves and then a nose coming out first. This means the lamb is presented properly and the delivery should go smoothly. The only time you should assist your ewes is if the lambs are not presented properly, or the ewe has been straining for more than 30-45 minutes without making any progress. If she is straining and not making any progress, the ewe should be examined and assisted as her lambs might be tangled or presented incorrectly preventing her from expelling them.
Your ewe will clean off the lambs and get them up and nursing. Lambs are usually up within a few minutes of being born looking for their ewe’s udder. She should stand there and allow the lambs to nurse. Once you see the lambs have successfully had their first good feeding you can count your lambing a success!
Once all the lambs are on the ground, you will see material hanging from your ewe’s vulva.
Do not try to remove this material. If you try to pull this material out, you can tear the uterus or the placenta causing her to hemorrhage and bleed to death or retain portions of it inside her uterus. Within the next couple hours, the placentas will be expelled. Though sometimes it can take 24 hours or longer. There will be a placenta expelled for each lamb.
You should examine them and make sure that they are complete and that nothing was retained inside your ewe. Do not be alarmed if she continues to expel some blood for the next several days. This is part of the process of her uterus cleaning itself.
We hope that this helps you to see what a normal lambing process looks like. We didn’t discuss all the problems and complications that could happen. Those will be topics for future articles. Nonetheless, the best way to know when something is going wrong is to understand what normal looks like.
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