Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
USE OF EAR TAGS
Some tags are a self-clinching type whereas others need a hole to
be punched. Tags should be applied while the lamb is still penned
with its ewe. Never use large, heavy cow tags on adult sheep.
Similarly, tags intended for mature sheep are often too heavy for
a lamb's ear to support. If you're using the small metal lamb tag,
insert it onto the ear by approximately half the length of the tag to
leave growing room for the maturing ear.
records (see pages 394-95 for sample record sheets) of lamb parentage, date
of birth, and growth, and it will be easier to decide which sheep to keep for
your fl ock and which to sell. With identifi cation tags also on each ewe, you
can be certain which lambs are hers, even after they are weaned.
Livestock-supply catalogs sell a variety of tags. Some are metal, and some
are plastic and come in a variety of colors. Some can be marked with an indel-
ible marker and others come with a preinscribed combination of numbers
and letters (your name if you wish) that you specify during ordering. The
different colors of the plastic tags can be used to identify sex, whether twins
or singles, the month born, and so on.
In addition to making sure the lambs are getting adequate feed, there are
some other problems to watch for. Hypothermia is one of the most common
problems facing newborns, and it doesn't have to be all that cold for hypo-
thermia to occur. In fact, a lamb can suffer from starvation hypothermia on a
moderately warm, sunny day.
Another fairly common problem is a “weak” lamb, which may result if the
ewe had a long, diffi cult delivery.
Hypothermia
Guard newborns and young lambs against hypothermia, which is implicated
in about half of all lamb deaths. Hypothermia has two basic causes: exposure
and starvation. As it implies, exposure hypothermia is a result primarily of
extremely cold temperatures or cold temperatures mixed with drafts. This can
kill wet lambs within the fi rst few hours of birth. Starvation hypothermia can
occur in lambs from 4 and 5 hours old to a couple of days old.
