Lambing Supplies
The lambing cupboard, stocked and ready at Ayr, Kinross, Lanark & Stirling — colostrum, milk powder, lambing aids, navel care, markers and rings, with SQPs behind every counter.
Three Ways to Get the Cupboard Filled
Lambing is the one season where running out is not an inconvenience, it is a dead lamb at two in the morning. The list exists so that does not happen.
The lambing list
Our own checklist and order form, printed every season and online here. Tick what you need, hand it in at the counter or to your rep, and it is picked and ready.
The four stores
Everything on this page is on the shelf at Ayr, Kinross, Lanark & Stirling through the season, with SQPs on the counter for the medicines and the questions.
Your rep
Eight reps across Scotland, every one a qualified SQP. Yours can go through the list with you on the farm and bring the order out. Find yours.
What this page is not: the health advice. Vaccination, trace elements, fluke and the pre-lambing decisions are on the sheep page, and the warmer and stomach tube have their own page. This is the kit.
Energy, Calcium and the Ewe That Goes Down
The last weeks of pregnancy are where a ewe runs out of room and runs out of energy, and the cupboard needs to be ready for both.
The Downland range covers the energy end: Lamb Force Twin Lamb and Keto Pro for the ewe carrying more than she can eat for, and Optigain Lamb and Optigain Lamb+Copper on the shelf beside them. For the ewe that is down, the calcium and magnesium bottles: Norbrook No 2 20% Calcium and No 5 40% Calcium + M, Mag Sulphate 25%, and Nettex Calci-Ewe+.
Which bottle, how it is given and when to ring the vet instead are questions for the SQP at the counter, not for a web page. What we will say is that a ewe down at lambing is an emergency, and the time to learn which bottle is before it happens. Ask when you hand in the list.
The condition scoring and the trace-element work that stops most of this happening is on the sheep page.
Lambing Aids and Navel Care
The things you reach for with one hand in the dark.
For the lambing itself
Downland First Aid obstetrical lube gel, in the tube for the pocket and the two- and five-litre for the shed. Disposable full length gloves, lambing ropes, a lambing instrument, the ewe spoon and the prolapse truss, suture tape and curved needles, a digital thermometer.
Navels
Downland First Aid 10% Strong Iodine, as a pump spray or by the can, and the alternatives — NoBacz navel spray with its trigger head, and Intra Repiderma. Downland First Aid antiseptic spray and purple foot spray sit beside them.
Hygiene between ewes
Downland Blitz disinfectant and Downland DryGuard hygiene powder for the pens, with Staldren hygiene powder, Dryform paraformaldehyde prills and Milton sterilising fluid for the bottles and tubes.
Seeing what you are doing
A headlight is on the list for a reason. Heat lamps and bulbs, lamb covers, plastic and stadium buckets, lambsfoot and pocket knives, foot rot shears and the crook.
Colostrum, Warmth, and the Order They Come In
A cold lamb and a hungry lamb look the same and are not treated the same. The warmer page explains why; this is what to have in.
Colostrum and Feeding Kit
Downland lamb colostrum leads the list in four pack sizes — 10, 20, 40 and 80 dose — because the one thing nobody wants to be short of at three in the morning is colostrum.
Getting it into the lamb
The Antahi Trusti Tuber and its starter kit, the colostrum feeder with tube, syringes with soft and plastic catheters, and the Udderly EZ sheep milk pump for taking colostrum off the ewe. How to tube a lamb safely is on the lamb rearing page.
Warming it up
The PYON Frisky lamb warmer and the Heatwave milk warmer. Order matters — a lamb with no energy left is warmed with care, not just warmed — and the warmer page says how.
A lift
Downland Lamb Force Boost, Downland Perk-Up spray and plain glucose, and Osmonds Sustain for the watery-mouth lamb. What each is for, and when it is the vet instead, is a counter conversation with the SQP.
Bottles and teats
Lamb feeding bottles, the non-vac bottle rack, Pritchard screw teats, pull-on teats, Hiko soft and firm lamb teats, the Milkbar lamb teat, the mini-suckler and its non return valve, and a milk whisk.
Milk Powder, Feeders and Pens
For the pet lambs and the triplets, the milk and the means of getting it into more than one lamb at once.
Downland Lamb Force milk powder comes first on the list, in 10 and 20 kilo bags, and Lamb Force Free Flow for machines; Volac Lamlac, Instant Lamlac and Lamlac Free Flow are stocked alongside it. Which suits a bucket and which suits a machine is worth asking before you buy the bag.
Feeders
The Forster Technik Lamb Eco Feeder, the automatic feeder for the flock that rears a lot of them, the Shepherdess feeder, and the five-teat bucket feeder for the pen.
Pens and hurdles
Four- and six-foot interlocking sheep hurdles and meshed lambing hurdles, the IAE lamb adopter front, gambrel restrainers, and the IAE lamb creep feeder for when they start on hard feed.
Hay and troughs
IAE horizontal and vertical sheep rings, the hayrack on wheels and the double-sided meshed hayrack, and Paxton sheep troughs in three sizes.
Hurdles, racks and troughs go out on the lorry: smaller orders on local delivery from Ayr, Kinross and Lanark, larger loads anywhere our 18-tonne lorry can get on to the farm. A delivery charge may apply — ask when you order. Details are on the contact page.
Markers, Castration and Docking
The jobs that happen in the first days, and the kit for them.
Markers
Downland sheep marking aerosol in red, blue, green, orange and purple, and Downland marking paste in the same colours by the tub. Ritchey Sprayline in two can sizes beside it.
Rings
Downland box castration rings in packs of a hundred and five hundred, and the Downland castration ring applicator pliers. Downland No.22 Swann Morton surgical blades.
ClipFitter
The LambKind Mini, Midi and Maxi ClipFitter applicators as an alternative to rings, the double and hybrid versions, and the Bio clips to go in them.
Castration and tailing are governed by welfare law and depend on the age of the lamb. What is lawful and what is kind is a question for the vet, and the SQP will point you there.
The Same Cupboard, for the Cows
The lambing list carries the calving kit on its last page, because spring calving and lambing arrive together.
On the Same List
Downland Fresh Start premium calf colostrum and the Downland Downguard +C calf syringe lead the calving section of the list.
Beside them the calving aids: the Vink beef calving aid and the Vink calving aid 180cm, the HD HK calving aid, Vink calving rope and the cow lifter hoist. For the autumn-calving herd the fuller checklist is its own page: the autumn calving checklist.
Where the Advice Comes From
Every product on this page is stocked. The advice on using the medicines among them is not on this page, and that is deliberate.
Colostrum volumes, calcium for a ewe down, twin lamb disease, watery mouth, the lawful age for rings — each depends on the lamb or the ewe in front of you, and each has a qualified answer at the counter. There are SQPs in every store and all eight reps are SQPs. Ask when you hand the list in, before lambing starts, rather than by phone at three in the morning.
What the SQPs are, and why the question matters, is on the SQP and AMTRA page.
Lambing Questions
When should I order my lambing supplies?
Before lambing starts, with time for anything on back-order to arrive. Hand the completed lambing list in at any store or give it to your rep, and it is picked for you. Ring the store if you want to check something is in stock first.
Where can I find the McCaskie lambing list?
The current lambing list and order form is online, linked from this page, and printed copies are on the counter at Ayr, Kinross, Lanark & Stirling. It is updated each season.
Do you stock Lamlac as well as Downland Lamb Force milk powder?
Yes. Downland Lamb Force milk powder, including a Free Flow version, and Volac Lamlac, Instant Lamlac and Lamlac Free Flow are all stocked. Ask which suits a bucket and which suits a machine.
How much colostrum does a newborn lamb need?
That depends on the lamb's weight, its age and whether it can suckle, so we do not give a figure on a web page. Follow the pack, and ask the SQP at the counter or your rep before lambing so you have the answer ready.
What do I give a ewe that has gone down before lambing?
Ring the vet, or ask the SQP, rather than guess. Calcium, magnesium and energy products are stocked for exactly this, but which one, and whether it is a vet job, depends on the ewe. Learn which bottle is which before lambing starts.
Do you sell lambing hurdles and creep feeders?
Yes. Interlocking and meshed lambing hurdles, IAE lamb creep feeders, hayracks and sheep rings, and Paxton sheep troughs, delivered on our own lorry where it can get on to the farm. A delivery charge may apply.
Can my rep bring the lambing order out to the farm?
Yes. Go through the list with your rep and they will arrange the order and the delivery. Every rep is a qualified SQP, so the medicines questions can be answered at the same visit.
Is there a page on the lamb warmer and stomach tube?
Yes. The PYON Frisky lamb warmer, the Antahi Trusti Tuber, the Heatwave milk warmer, the Forster-Technik feeder and the milk powders are together on the lamb rearing page, which covers the order to use them in.