What size lambing pens

[Fen girl]

The lambs are in the back !!! they can get under the back gate in to a 2x2ft light pen only in these bonding Pens a couple of days then out ! Some lambs don't even go in the back but dose give them a "safe space" were they can't get laid on!! Also good if the temp drops in the night

 

[Gator]

Mine are 6x5 for twins down the sides and 5x5 down the middle

 

[Lovegoodstock]

Please don't tell my sheep or show them pics of these pens, they will start laying on their lambs out of protest. Mainly lamb ewe lambs but do 250 big cheviot mules that im mainly through, the biggest would be 110/115 kilo, post lambing for only 8/16 hours depending when she lambs sits in 3.5 foot wide by 4.5 deep. Not triplets, but always told more straw and bigger pen more laid on, had one single laid on this afternoon bizarrely, first out of I think 300 odd lambs

 

[neilo]

Crikey, my girls are hard done by. I have 6' and 3' slatted wooden hurdles (ex Honda shipping crate sides and 20 yrs old), so my pens are 6'x3' generally. Have a few 4' wooden batten hurdles that came from a farm sale about 15 yrs ago, so that gives me triplet/lazy ewe pens of 6'x4'.

Haven't had more than a handful laid on since the Suffolk blood was culled out, many years ago. I certainly don't have a heat lamp area in every pen! I'd be too tight to pay for the electric for one thing.

 

[Guiggs]

lamb outside but if the weathers bad (as it is now) bring them in for a day or two as they lamb...I'm going to make some lambing pens inside...what size do people prefer? 6x6 6x5 5x5 ect ect?

also are the iae hurdles any good for this or rubbish quality?

I've got a load of IAE Hurdles I brought from a neighbour in amongst a load of kit, I don't know if they have different grades but these ones are garbage!!
The rectangular hoops either bend or snap off completely and the rails bend if you sneeze near them, I think they were saving money by not using any weld when they made them,
I was thinking of re-using the tin foil after roasting the chicken on Sunday's to make my own, probably be as strong!

 

[Northeastfarmer]

I've got a load of IAE Hurdles I brought from a neighbour in amongst a load of kit, I don't know if they have different grades but these ones are garbage!!
The rectangular hoops either bend or snap off completely and the rails bend if you sneeze near them, I think they were saving money by not using any weld when they made them,
I was thinking of re-using the tin foil after roasting the chicken on Sunday's to make my own, probably be as strong!

Heard a few people say that about the hoops

 

[Northeastfarmer]

are you lambing in them or moving ewes to them as they've lambed? The pens dont need to be that big if they have lambed if only for a few minutes. I move my ewes (when i havent got a roast and glass of wine) and 50 of them go into kennel building cow cubicles an dont get hardly any squashed lambs... but then i have the right 'type/looks' 'well fed' 'inbred' 'untested so no selection' 'carcass with a tight skins' blah blah blah from another thread were luckily i'm too busy
Bigger is obviously better but 5x4 if lambing in and 6x3 if moving to at the least i'd say.

No lambing outside then bring triplets or first time mothers in for a day or two till properly mothered and if weathers settled

 

[nasher]

Due to cost l use wooden hurdles , I can buy 3 for the price of one metal, also I think the thieves will leave them alone.

 

[GTB]

Local sawmill used to make hurdles for three or four quid. We have some that must be getting on for twenty years old and they're still good as new. The secret is to keep them dry and to stack them on their sides when not in use to stop them warping.

 

[David.]

5ftx5ft for normal doubles, 6x5 for trebles, or 6x6 for floppy old Suffolk x ewes (that ought to be culled).
Home made timber, reckon they cost about a fiver to make from treated 3"x 1" and roofing bolts to joins.

 

[jemski]

It got very busy this year so I was building pens everywhere I could, including these ...

 

[cooksey]

6x4 for everything simply as then if there is a ewe not drinking there is plenty of space to get in and put the lambs to drink

 

[yellowbelly]

It got very busy this year so I was building pens everywhere I could, including these ... View attachment 291390

Which pallets do you prefer,the IAE ones or the Bateman ones?

 

[jemski]

Which pallets do you prefer,the IAE ones or the Bateman ones?

You jest, but they are easier than the hurdles with the square ends that only link together when at prefect right angles. I hate them with a passion.

 

[JohnGalway]

Best thing is to stop the ewes from seeing next doors lambs, they were causing so much damage to the wire mesh here and rejecting their own lambs, so took my staple hammer (carpet fitting tool) and got some round bale wraps and here they are two years later, no butting, no rejected lambs, no wrecking mesh and lambs getting mixed.. superb work for a yorkshireman.

That's nearly exactly my plan this year for small pens. I was going to buy plywood sheets, then thought feck that. I'll make my usual 5' hurdles, and staple on some of the excess green polytunnel cover I still have. Can always pull off the plastic easily again. Even have a staple hammer type thingy, thanks to Lidl.

 

[quavers]

So there's something in it then. we have not toiled in vain.

what about cable tying strips of carpet on to your hurdles or buy some sheets of recycled plastic sheets and fit those on .

 

[Northeastfarmer]

what about cable tying strips of carpet on to your hurdles or buy some sheets of recycled plastic sheets and fit those on .

Yea I thought u could put squares of stokbord on the middles so they can't see through

 

[hubbahubba]

My pens must be the smallest. Nearly all 5x4 apart from maybe 10x 5x5 for triplets that are needing a couple days before lifting a lamb. Smaller the pens are the more you can have. My ewes are 80kg is at lambing.

 

[shearerlad]

Mine are smaller @hubbahubba
Made from 4 tattie box end boards and standard fence rails for verticals

 

[Forever Fendt]

My wee Beltex have 6x6 purely because I hate to see ewes standing on lambs when they turn round or when they are trying to get to feed or water and the price difference between gate sizes did not justify buying smaller ones. I see plenty of large ewes with twins in Solway 5x5 pens and 4'6''x 6' steel pens at work and there are no problems one could actually level at the pen size.How long you may keep the ewes confined and personal preference will probably make more difference than measurable factors.
If you buy gates with fixed hoops on one end you will be unable to make a line of pens where all the gates interlock. Gates with lugs and pins are far easier. I saw a company where each end was made with lugs at slightly differing heights within a two inch range so the gates remained level on a concrete surface, that was a feature I liked.

all mine have pins on the ends you can open the fronts any way you like and can pull a division out to make a double pen , borrowed about 30 iae pens a few years ago found them to be a finger trapping PITA