This Spring was weather-lucky: with rain the night before (the sheep were locked inside & thus dry) the weather was warming. But it is still early March so I have whole corn on hand to give them extra fat/energy. It is easy, they love it and it gives them a boost (and my neighbor sheared only 5 days earlier and his sheep faced a ten-below-zero night … time for whole corn!!

With longer wool breeds (like churros) ‘crupping’ your ewes is one solution. Take a scissors and [with someone strong holding the ewe tightly] carefully cut the dangle-y long wool near the udder. What you want to achieve is to give the newborn lamb(s) an unobstructed path to the udder. When they’re first born and staggering under instinct-only, you want zero obstructions for them. They need to suck on a teat-filled-with-milk and not suck on wool thinking they’re in the right place
clear?

My philosophy is not to bother the sheep more then needed.  Thus I vaccinate everyone each Spring with CD-T when the shearer is here (note: I shear 2-3 weeks before the lambs are due).  This provides some protection to the lambs through the placenta/milk.

I vaccinate the lambs roughly at 5 weeks and 7 weeks of age and then they are good for a year, needing only rabies later on.

Normally, I worm the ewes the day they lamb— when I do ear-tags and tail dockings (day #1 of the lambs’ life).  Then I leave them alone for a day or two, just hay and clean water.  Everyone gets acquainted then out they go into the big [bad] world.