Managing ewes during pregnancy
Ewe condition score targets need to be maintained. When BCS cannot be increased by grazing management in late pregnancy, supplementary feed should be used. Get them at their BCS targets (see Nutrition and Body Condition Score section) then draft out smaller ones and provide them with nutrition to bring up to condition targets. Ewes approaching lambing lose their resistance to internal parasites, leading to increased number of worms surviving in their gut as well as higher number of eggs produced per worm.
Four weeks before lambing, draft out twins and lates, allocate to lambing paddocks. Match expected lamb numbers to paddocks, i.e. put ‘early twins’ in the best paddocks, ‘late twins’ in the second best, ‘early singles’ next, then leave the poorest paddocks for the late single-bearing ewes.