Sheep Pregnancy Scanning and Ewe Welfare

Pregnancy scanning in sheep allows targeted nutritional management of ewes carrying different numbers of lambs. When properly implemented, it significantly reduces lamb and ewe losses and improves welfare outcomes at lambing.

Key Facts

Ultrasound pregnancy scanning of sheep is performed at 6-8 weeks after mating, identifying single, twin, and triplet-bearing ewes
Triplet-bearing ewes have nutritional requirements approximately 30% higher than singles and must be managed separately
Under-nutrition of pregnant ewes causes pregnancy toxaemia (twin lamb disease), a painful and often fatal metabolic condition
Scanning allows ewes to be grouped by litter size for targeted feeding - substantially reducing metabolic disease
Unscanned flocks have higher rates of mismothering, starvation, and lamb mortality as triplet ewes fail to sustain all lambs
The welfare benefits of scanning extend beyond nutrition to identification of non-pregnant ewes who can be managed separately
Scanning itself causes minimal welfare impact when performed by trained operators using appropriate technique
UK uptake of pregnancy scanning has increased significantly, but adoption remains incomplete particularly in smaller flocks

Welfare Considerations

Pregnancy scanning prevents significant welfare suffering for both ewes and lambs. Ewes carrying triplets that are managed as singles develop metabolic disease - a condition causing profound weakness, neurological signs, recumbency, and death if untreated. Triplet lambs born to under-nourished ewes are lighter, weaker, and more likely to be rejected or to die from starvation in the first days of life. These are predictable, preventable welfare failures that proper scanning and nutritional management avoids. The small cost of scanning is easily justified by welfare and economic benefits, yet non-adoption in some sectors continues to cause preventable suffering at the scale of hundreds of thousands of animals annually.

What You Can Do

Advocate for pregnancy scanning to be included as a best practice requirement in farm welfare standards
Support farm advisory services providing scanning guidance and training for smaller flocks
Choose lamb and mutton from producers with verified welfare standards including lambing management
Engage with veterinary practices and AHDB to promote scanning uptake in all sheep farming contexts
Support welfare research on optimal nutritional management of multi-bearing ewes
Recognise that welfare in sheep farming extends beyond the visible lambing period to pre-lambing management