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UK Lambing School to Teach Basics of First 72 Hours

UK Lambing School to Teach Basics of First 72 Hours

UK Lambing School to Teach Basics of First 72 Hours

LEXINGTON, Ky.—

Although it takes a year to produce a lamb crop from the time the ewe is bred until her offspring are marketed, brief periods exist where critical management can determine the success or failure of a sheep enterprise.

University of Kentucky Extension Sheep Specialist Monty Chappell said sheep producers from the Commonwealth and surrounding states have a unique opportunity to learn more about hands-on management of lambs during one such brief period – from a lamb’s birth until it is 72-hours-old.

The fourteenth annual UK winter lambing school will provide new and veteran sheep producers a chance to learn essential skills to get them through the critical phases of late gestation, lambing and early lactation. On February 6, Endre Fink and Winston Deweese of the UK Animal Research Center, will provide applied management instruction and hands-on opportunities related to ewe care during late gestation through creep feeding of new lambs.

Chappell will lead discussions with producers and answer important questions concerning lambing.

“We’re teaching producers how important the first 72 hours are in a lamb’s life,” he said. “If the lambs make it through that time, usually they will be well on their way to market. Neonatal lamb care can determine the difference between profit and loss in the sheep business.”

Once again, the UK Animal Research Center in Woodford Co. is the site for the event. It’s located on U.S. Hwy. 62 near Versailles. The lambing school will be broken up into two, half-day sessions. The first session will be from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and then will be repeated from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Registration is free. If you plan to attend, please send your name, address and phone number to 2002 Lambing School, 911 W.P. Garrigus Bldg., University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-0215. Also, you may call or email Chappell at (859) 257-2716, mchappel@uky.edu.

Contact Information

Scovell Hall Lexington, KY 40546-0064

cafenews@uky.edu