Necessary recommendations to reduce the loss of lambs:
A: Maternal factors (necessary considerations regarding pregnant ewes)
1- Creating an individual maternity ward for pregnant sheep to prevent any trauma or physical damage to the lamb during birth.
2- Disinfecting and keeping the animal husbandry and especially the maternity ward healthy in order to prevent the development and spread of infectious and microbial diseases such as brucellosis (malt fever in humans) – leptospirosis – Q fever – bluetongue (blue tongue)
3- The safety of livestock and maternity from the penetration of any hunting animals such as wolves, jackals, foxes, etc.
4- Creating proper ventilation in animal husbandry and maternity and taking care not to create blinds and direct wind flow on the body of the mother ewe and especially the lambs.
5- Keeping the temperature of the maternity ward high, especially in the cold seasons of the year (temperature above 17 degrees Celsius)
6- Keeping the livestock floor and the maternity ward dry and providing a clean bed in the maternity ward
7- Keeping the mother ewe and the lamb together for the first few days so that a strong emotional relationship is established between them so that the mother ewe will be willing to breastfeed her lamb or lambs.
8- Making sure the farmer produces enough milk and colostrum from the mother ewe for the lambs
9- Making sure the farmer that in multiple ewes, does the mother take care of all the lambs and milk them.
10- More supervision of the farmer on the pregnant ewes of the first abdomen and also the ewes that give birth with difficulty.
11- Preventing the creation of any kind of sound stress either through humans or dogs or machines in the maternity ward, especially in goats.
13- Avoiding sudden changes in the diet and ration of pregnant animals (at least 2 to 3 weeks are needed for the rumen and digestive system to adapt)
14- Feeding the mother ewe with excellent concentrate in the last 6 weeks of pregnancy to prepare the ewe to produce milk and colostrum and meet the physical needs of the fetus.
15- Twin or multiple pregnant ewes should have a high level of food ration and the amount of concentrate in their ration should be higher.
16- Preventing long-term exposure of pregnant sheep under sunlight, especially in pastures by creating shade
17- Monitoring the time of matings and using estrus synchronization techniques to know the time of birth and manage the reproduction of the herd better.
18- In every lambing pen installed in the nursery, there should be at least 2 square meters of space and there should be a safe corner for the shelter of the newborn lamb.
19- After the birth of the lamb, the farmer should ensure its breathing and clean the mucus and enamel secretions from its mouth and nose.
20- If the rate of deaths and abortions is more than 2% of the population of lambs born, the veterinarian should be informed.
21- The purchase of livestock to create productive herds as replacements must be done from clean herds with a vaccination certificate, and if the purchase is from livestock farms where the condition of the replacement livestock is not known, vaccination must be done after the purchase.
22- Preventing the movement of animals such as dogs and cats in livestock farms and fodder and concentrate storage, which cause the spread of microbial agents, as well as preventing these animals from accessing livestock food and not removing pregnant ewes from the upper parts of the stored fodder, which may It is necessary to be contaminated with cat or dog feces
23- Feeding pregnant animals with plants such as sweet clover, corn on the cob (sorghum), cocklebur and oats (oats) can cause abortion.
Iran’s Romanov market
This post is written by hosseinidirector