The old adage of ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’ can be used for so many elements surrounding lambing.

There is enough stress and work at lambing without adding to it by failing to have plans in place and sufficient supplies on hand.

A simple solution is to write down a lambing inventory of products required over the lambing period and cross-reference this with supplies on hand.

Table 1 details a comprehensive listing of products.

Farmers differ in their preference on a number of products.

Some farmers do not like using gloves, which is fine, as long as hands are washed pre- and post-handling of ewes.

This will reduce the risk of infection establishing in the ewe or zoonotic diseases in humans.

Another area is lubricant or washing up liquid for aiding delivery.

Lubricant wins out in this regard, as washing up liquid can actually dry the area out more in the suds-forming process.

Farmers also differ in their preference of prolapse harnesses (designed or rope), retainers or stitching.

A harness or stitching will have a better chance of not interfering with the birthing process, while a retainer can sometimes complicate issues.