Cold, wet weather is especially problematic for small, newborn lambs that lose heat quickly. This can be fatal if they don't have enough energy reserves to burn to keep warm. Minimising stress and time off feed is crucial, especially in cold, wet weather.
Hypothermia can set in quickly during these cold wet conditions, making lambs and shorn or low body condition ewes particularly vulnerable. Prioritise shelter for the most vulnerable.
Lanolin covers the wool fibers of their coats, acting as a natural lubricant that prevents fibers from locking together. Lanolin also repels water, which makes sheep somewhat waterproof when they're out in the rain.
Effective shelter protects lambs from wind, rain and conductive heat loss, as well as enabling exposure to the sun. Shelter should be familiar and well dispersed to encourage use by ewes isolated from the mob at lambing.
Luckily, sheep secrete an oily substance from their skin called lanolin, which lubricates the wool and prevents the fibres from tangling when they get wet, so their fleece stays nice and full in the rain. When woolly jumpers shrink, they don't stretch again when they dry out.
5-7 days before shearing
Keep sheep out of the rain. Sheep should be dry for shearing day. This is very important.
Healthy adult sheep can be out in the rain as long as they have a sheltered area to go to when the rain is heavy. The more vulnerable the individual sheep, like newborn lambs, the more protection they need from heavy rains.
Turn out ewes and lambs to pasture early in the morning; Move ewes and lambs out to small paddocks, with sufficient shelter; Supplement ewes with concentrates or good-quality silage; Rehouse ewes and lambs if poor weather conditions persist.
It depends on the rain. Light to moderate rain seems to not bother them at all, they don't exactly stand still, they just carry on doing what they were doing anyway, usually eating grass. But there is a certain level of rain and wind and cold that sends them looking for shelter.
Sheep are pretty water-proof out in the fields due to the lanolin coating on the hairs of their fleeces. Indeed, because of the lanolin they can live outdoors all year round, while angora goats and alpacas need shelters.
One common concern that arises under these conditions is a disease that is commonly referred to as “rain rot.” Rain rot is the most common skin disease in horses, but it also affects cattle, goats, sheep, dogs, and cats.
Sheep in full wool can become water-logged and succumb to exhaustion more quickly than those with little wool. Fleeces with a green tinge indicate wetting for longer than 7 days. Neurological signs often indicate metabolic disease. Animals showing neurological signs (eg paddling) have a poor prognosis.
If they are damp on top but not wet to the skin, they can be shorn, but you will need to get your hands on a random sample of animals and make sure that they are not wet to the skin. That said, shearing damp animals means: You cannot bag your fleece as it will get moldy.
Water: provide access to fresh, clean water from day one, and at a height which is easily accessible to lambs at all times. Creep feed: top quality creep feed should be introduced from one week of age, and offered fresh at least once a day. Refusals can be fed to the ewes.
A lamb with hypothermia will appear weak, gaunt, or hunched up and have a cold mouth and ears. Use a rectal thermometer to check its temperature. “A temperature below 100 degrees Fahrenheit is considered hypothermic,” says Olson.
Once you get the lamb home, ensure they are kept warm at all times, and away from drafts. Be careful not to overheat them, normal temperature is 38.5C – 39.5C. A lamb is considered hypothermic when their body temperature drops below 37.5C.
If the weather is good, most sheep prefer sleeping outside. But bad weather with strong winds causes them to seek a sheltered spot under trees or in a building like a barn.
However, in Merino sheep, after 48 hours water deprivation, the rumen contents become increasingly thick and by 72 hours, the “store” of fluid begins to be depleted.
Only a shepherd knows about the fears that sheep possess of running water. They will die from thirst before drinking from a fast moving stream. Sheep have reason to fear the running water because they cannot swim very well. Thrown into a deep, fast moving river, a sheep will probably not survive.
They are very timid. A sheet of paper blown by the wind will frighten them. A thunderstorm may throw them into a panic. They may drown without a struggle if they are scared while crossing a stream.
The lower critical temperature for freshly shorn sheep is 50 degrees. Sheep with 2.5 inches of fleece have a LCT of 28 degrees. Goats are generally considered to have a LCT of 32 degrees.
Night-penning sheep
Electromesh Fencing: May be effective, and often a good option for small numbers of livestock and/or small acreages or pens. Types of fencing vary and may include multiple-strand electric or electric mesh, woven wire mesh, panels, or other hard barriers.
Dermatophilosis, also known as rain rot, rain scald, lumpy wool disease, and streptotrichosis, is a skin infection caused by the Gram-positive bacteria Dermatophilus congolensis. The bacterium has two morphologic forms (zoospores and hyphae) in a life cycle that resembles that of a fungus.
In many cases, trees or a windbreak is all the shelter (or shade) that sheep need. In open fields without sufficient tree coverage, simple run-in sheds or shade structures can be constructed or purchased.
Sheep prefer to drink still water as opposed to water from a moving stream. It is generally recommended that streams be fenced off and that livestock not be allowed to drink from natural water sources.