20 February 2025

Let’s Talk Sheep – Practical tips to make lambing easier

This week’s edition of the Let’s Talk Sheep Webinar seen Ciaran Lynch joined by his colleagues from the Teagasc Sheep Knowledge Transfer Programme, Michael Gottstein and Damian Costello to share practical tips to make lambing easier.

With the first signs of the lambing season evident, as a small numbers of ewes and lambs can be viewed in fields across the country, the team focused on: health issues; management at lambing; facilities and equipment; and hygiene.

On the webinar, Head of Sheep Knowledge Transfer at Teagasc, Michael Gottstein covered the main illnesses occurring at lambing time, including twin lamb disease and milk fever, along with providing an overview of abortions in ewe flocks and the causes of mortality at lambing time.

He noted that lambing time represents a time of significant labour input on sheep farms, accounting for 20-25% of the annual workload, and the purpose of the webinar was to make farmers aware of some tips to make management easier at this time of year.

Damian Costello, Sheep Specialist at Teagasc, shared key details of the lambing checklist – highlighting the key supplies farmers need at hand before the start of the lambing season. His presentation covered the importance of having the correct lambing facilities, including pen numbers, how long lambed pairs should be retained within and the factors impacting on the formation of the ewe and lamb bond.

A question and answers session followed the presentations, where Ciaran, Michael and Damian addressed viewers’ queries on the night.

For further details, a recording of the full Let’s Talk Sheep Webinar is available to view below: