[Jacob-list] stomping and jugging

[gordon johnston]

I'm gradually getting used to this word 'jugging' - over here we say 'penning', but either way we no longer do it unless there is a problem with the ewes or lambs.  But then we don't have predators like coyotes, just foxes.
For our very first lambing, eight years ago, we had been told that we had to pen our ewes - 'Jacobs cannot lamb outdoors' - !!!   We had only three, so we put them in a horse stall together then divided it up as they lambed.  Two were OK with the pens, but the third and wildest one was not happy, forever trying to get to her pals - she could see them and hear the lambs. She lambed very quickly between my two-hourly visits to the barn in the night, and when I got there two beautiful lambs were trodden and dead, and the ewe was still turning round and round, trailing her afterbirth and getting tangled up in it.  We don't know if the lambs were stillborn, not licked at birth or trampled to death.  Just like you Donna we were devastated, and I blamed myself for being asleep at the time - but we have to sleep and there were no signs at all when I had checked two hours before.  All turned out well as one of the other ewes rejected a triplet which we fostered onto the wild ewe who is an excellent mother.
For a couple more years we lambed the Jacobs in pens but there were always problems of one kind or another. Our other breeds were all happily lambing outside so one year we let the Jacobs lamb out there too, and we had no more problems so that is now what we always do.  We are well fenced and have a large dog to patrol against foxes. The Jacobs like to come into a small area close to the house - pure serendipity but very convenient ! - so we can catch them up if necessary.  Now if there is a problem we pen them after lambing for a few days, but if all is well and the weather is good them we leave them out. They seem very happy lambing outdoors and have sufficient room for all the restlessness and turning they seem to want to do.
My thoughts on the cause of our trampling were that the pen was too small for the ewe ( it was about 4' x 6' ) who couldn't avoid the lambs as she turned round and round, wondering what was happening at the back end. But she was so freaked I don't think she licked the lambs at all so maybe they would have died anyway.
Perhaps the same thing happened with your ewe Donna, and the other mother also became agitated when she heard the noise and accidentally trampled her own lamb. 
It is so sad when we lose lambs - I always see them as gaps in the flock for the first months.  I hope all goes well with the rest.
Juliet in Scotland UK
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