It is a welcome relief, after what feels like a very long winter, to see that spring is finally here!

It could be the appearance of the daffodils and croci confirming the changing season, however, it is actually due to the notable increased frequency of emergency calls to attend lambings and calvings! As a farm vet you know spring is here when the seasonal workload gets heavier, and we love it!

At Friars Moor Livestock Health, we pride ourselves on frequently running discussion group meetings and training courses, whilst we miss doing these face-to-face, covid has not stopped us from adapting to safe online versions. If you are approaching lambing on your farm or smallholding or are a student looking for some up-to- date training and work experience why not book onto our online lambing course?

We have reduced the usual fee of the practical lambing course to £50 since the hands-on element has become restricted. However, the content is certainly the same, and we will be offering the next best thing by carrying out live demonstrations from my husband’s lambing shed at home!
One of the main concerns people have is when they should intervene, how to correct birthing difficulties and when you should call the vet, so by answering these questions and more, we try to ensure anyone attending comes away feeling more confident and prepared.

One of the keys to the success of lambing is ewe health. If optimal, this ensures good growth of the unborn lambs, so strong lambs are born. Pre-lambing ewe nutrition is vital to ensure good quality colostrum production too. We will discuss how you can test colostrum quality and how to stomach tube lambs that are too weak to feed from the udder themselves.

One of the most daunting parts of lambing is correcting difficult births, and this is a common occurrence since many sheep breeds have more than one lamb, and so with some twins and triplets trying to come at the same time it is not unusual to have to untangle tricky presentations. We will be demonstrating how to correct these to deliver the lambs safely. Alongside many other tips and advice, including how to resuscitate a lamb.

To book your place on our first online Lambing course and to join Jo Childs and I over zoom on Wednesday 24th March from 1pm please call the farm office on 01258 472314.

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