High quality colostrum for your lambs

Seasonal challenge25-2-2020

With the lambing season underway, nutrition needs to be a priority to ensure that lambs are provided with high quality colostrum and milk in the crucial first few weeks of life.

Due to the structure of a lamb’s placenta, no passive transfer of immunity occurs in the uterus and lambs are therefore dependant on colostrum to obtain protective antibodies. Providing lambs with enough high quality colostrum at birth is vital if they are to develop immunity from disease, grow well and thrive.

An average ewe will produce about two litres of colostrum in the first 18 hours post-partum and getting this colostrum into the lamb quickly is important. Lambs need to absorb immunoglobulins (IgG) within two hours of birth, as their ability to absorb it reduces sharply over time. While the IgG content of colostrum varies between breed, the quantity and quality of sheep colostrum is predominantly driven by the amount of energy and protein she receives in the last three weeks of pregnancy.

Some new born lambs, particularly twins or triplets, are at risk of not receiving sufficient colostrum. When checking lambs pay attention to see if they look ‘lively’ and have a full belly. If you feel a lamb has been deprived of its mother’s colostrum, artificial colostrum should be fed immediately.