Lambing Difficulties: When to Intervene & Call the Vet

The hardest skill in the lambing shed is not knowing how to correct a malpresentation. It is knowing when to leave a ewe alone, when to step in, and when to stop and pick up the phone. Intervene too early and you disrupt a normal lambing, introduce infection and cause damage. Intervene too late and you lose lambs, and sometimes the ewe.

The way to get this right is to have clear time limits in your head before you are kneeling in the straw at three in the morning.

The three stages of lambing

Stage one: preparation (typically 2-6 hours)

The cervix dilates and the lambs move into position. The ewe becomes restless, separates from the flock, paws the ground, gets up and down, may nest, and often has a slightly hollowed appearance as the lambs move back. Contractions are not yet visible as strong straining.

Do not interfere. Watch from a distance. Disturbing a ewe in stage one can genuinely stall her.

If a ewe has been in stage one for more than about 6 hours with no progress to active straining, that warrants a closer look.

Stage two: delivery (typically 1 hour for the first lamb)

Strong abdominal straining begins. The water bag appears, then breaks. The lamb should follow.

• First lamb: normally delivered within about 1 hour of strong straining starting. Mature ewes are often much quicker; ewe lambs slower.
• Subsequent lambs: usually within 30-60 minutes of each other.

Stage three: cleansing (typically 2-6 hours)

The placenta is expelled. Retained membranes beyond about 12-24 hours are a reason to involve your vet, as they carry a risk of metritis.

What normal presentation looks like

The textbook normal delivery is anterior presentation: two front feet first, soles down, with the lamb’s nose resting on or just behind the pastern joints. That is the “diving” position, and it is the shape that fits through the pelvis.

A back-end-first delivery, posterior presentation, with two hind feet, soles up, and no head, is not abnormal in sheep and can deliver perfectly well, but it is a hurry-up: once the umbilical cord is compressed, the lamb must be delivered promptly or it will inhale fluid. Assist a true posterior presentation without dithering.

Everything else is a malpresentation and needs correcting before delivery can proceed.

What you see	Likely position	Response
Two front feet, nose resting on them	Normal (anterior)	Leave alone; allow the ewe to deliver
Two hind feet, soles upward, no head	Posterior (backwards)	Assist promptly, deliver without delay
Head only, no feet	Head back / legs back	Correct, do not pull
One leg and a head	One leg retained	Correct, do not pull
Feet only, no head after prolonged straining	Head turned back	Correct, do not pull
Tail only, no feet	Breech	Veterinary help, often difficult
More legs than make sense	Twins tangled	Sort out which legs belong to which lamb
Head and tongue swollen, dark	Prolonged obstruction	Urgent, act now

A cardinal rule: if you cannot identify a normal presentation, do not pull. Traction on a malpresented lamb tears the ewe and kills the lamb.

When to intervene

Intervene if any of the following applies:

• Strong, purposeful straining for more than about 45-60 minutes with no lamb visible.
• The water bag broke more than an hour ago and nothing has followed.
• Only part of a lamb is visible (a head alone, one foot alone) and no progress in 20-30 minutes.
• The ewe has been straining, then stopped and is exhausted or distressed.
• More than an hour has passed between lambs while the ewe is clearly still carrying more.
• Any lamb appears with a swollen, discoloured head or tongue.
• Bright red blood, a foul smell, or obvious ewe distress.

When to intervene: how to do it safely

• Clean and disinfect. Wash the ewe’s vulva and your arms; use fresh lubricant generously. Long disposable gloves. Short nails.
• Restrain the ewe humanely, on her side or standing in a pen. Work quietly.
• Explore gently. Feel first, and identify what is there before you move anything.
• Repel and reposition. Push the lamb back into the uterus to give yourself room before bringing a leg or head forward. Cup your hand over the hoof so it does not tear the uterine wall.
• Pull with the ewe, not against her. Traction only during a contraction, downwards and outwards in a curve towards the ewe’s hocks, never straight out.
• Slow and steady beats hard and fast. If you need more than reasonable, one-person effort, you are doing the wrong thing.

When to stop and call the vet

There is no prize for persistence. Call your vet if:

• You have worked for 20-30 minutes and made no progress.
• You cannot work out what you are feeling.
• The cervix is not dilated (“ringwomb”), the lamb cannot come through a closed cervix and forcing it will not work.
• The lamb is clearly too big to pass the pelvis.
• It is a breech (tail only), a head-back with no room, or badly tangled twins you cannot separate.
• The ewe is down, exhausted, shocked or bleeding.
• You feel a tear, or the uterus is dry and tight, a sign of prolonged obstruction and high risk of rupture.

A caesarean performed early, on a ewe who is still strong, has a far better outcome for both ewe and lambs than one performed after three hours of struggling. The vet call you regret is almost always the one you made too late.

Reducing difficulties before they happen

• Sire selection. Use easy-lambing rams on ewe lambs and shearlings. High-birth-weight terminal sires on small first-time mothers cause dystocia.
• Ewe condition. Aim for BCS 3.0 at lambing. Over-fat ewes have more difficult lambings; thin ewes lack the strength to push.
• Do not overfeed in late gestation in the hope of bigger lambs. Feed to requirement.
• Know your dates. Gestation averages 147 days, range 142-152. Ewes need supervision from day 142, not day 147.
• Have the kit laid out, lubricant, long gloves, ropes, iodine, towels, a stomach tube, colostrum, a warming box, disinfectant, and the vet’s number where you can read it at 3am.

Use the Sheep Gestation Calculator to turn tupping dates into the earliest-to-latest lambing window, so the shed is staffed and the kit is ready before the first ewe starts.

This article is general husbandry guidance, not veterinary advice. For decisions about a specific animal or flock, speak to your vet.

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Plan your lambing dates: use the free Sheep Gestation Calculator to turn a breeding date into an expected lambing date, a 142–152 day window and a full milestone timeline. Estimates only, always consult a veterinarian for animal-health decisions.

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