Neonatal Lamb Care: The Critical First Hours

The first hours of a lamb's life determine its survival and lifetime welfare, making targeted neonatal management the highest-impact intervention in sheep production.

Key Facts

50% of lamb mortality occurs in the first 24 hours of life
Hypothermia and starvation are the two leading causes of neonatal lamb death
Lambs must receive colostrum within 4-6 hours of birth - passive immunity transfers only during this window
Lambs below 38.5 degrees Celsius require warming before feeding - cold lambs cannot absorb colostrum
Stomach tubing provides colostrum to weak lambs unable to suckle effectively
Birth weight below 3 kg significantly increases hypothermia and mortality risk
Twin and triplet lambs are at highest risk due to competition and lower individual birth weights

Welfare Considerations

Neonatal lamb death from hypothermia and starvation is preventable suffering - lambs that die in the first 24 hours have experienced progressive cold, hunger, and weakness before death. Intensive neonatal management - ensuring all lambs are dry, warm, and have received colostrum within the first hours - prevents the majority of this suffering. The skills of neonatal assessment (rectal temperature, suckling reflex, colostrum adequacy) and interventions (warming, stomach tubing) are learnable by any stockperson and have the highest welfare return per unit of effort of any lambing intervention.

What You Can Do

Check all newborn lambs within 30 minutes of birth to ensure they are dry and have suckled
Take rectal temperatures of any lamb appearing weak - below 38.5C requires warming before feeding
Ensure sufficient colostrum supply - ewe colostrum, stored frozen colostrum, or commercial replacer
Train all lambing staff in stomach tubing technique for weak lambs unable to suckle
Weigh lambs at birth to identify those below 3 kg who need priority monitoring and intervention