Lambing Season
There’s a certain excitement in the air during lambing season.
Barn lights glow late into the night. Coffee stays hot in the thermos because chores happen faster than the clock. Every producer knows this stretch of the calendar carries both anticipation and responsibility. Months of planning, breeding decisions, and nutritional management finally culminate in small, wobbling legs hitting the ground.
While lambing season officially begins the day the first ewe goes into labor, the truth is simpler and more demanding. Lamb survival is determined long before the first lamb is born.
And one of the most overlooked factors shaping that outcome is mineral preparation.
Minerals are not flashy. They don’t come with dramatic before-and-after photos or immediate visual results. Yet they quietly influence nearly every biological process that determines whether lambs are born strong, stand quickly, nurse aggressively, and thrive.
In many ways, minerals are the invisible framework holding lambing season together.
Advice from the Experts
At BioZyme®, the makers of DuraFerm®, we specialize in vitamin and mineral supplements to strengthen your stock by supporting reproductive success and enhancing the overall health of your flock. DuraFerm is a line of nutritional supplements for sheep and goats that promotes optimal digestion and nutrition, maximizing performance at every stage of production, including lambing season
That’s why our team created this resource to help you prepare for lambing season and choose a mineral supplement that will increase lamb vigor and help them hit the ground running.
Why Lamb Survival Starts Before Birth
It’s tempting to focus solely on management at lambing time. Clean jugs. Dry bedding. Colostrum protocols. Good mothering. These are all critical, of course.
But survival begins much earlier, during sheep gestation.
Fetal growth accelerates rapidly during the final six to eight weeks of pregnancy. In fact, roughly 70 percent of lamb growth happens during the last trimester. At the same time, the ewe’s nutrient requirements climb sharply as she supports both her own maintenance and rapidly developing lambs.
If her diet falls short in key minerals during this period, the effects show up later in ways that can be difficult to fix:
- Weak or slow-to-stand lambs
- Poor colostrum quality
- Lower birth weights
- Reduced vigor
- Increased disease susceptibility
- Higher death loss
These outcomes aren’t usually the result of one dramatic deficiency. More often, they stem from subtle, cumulative gaps in mineral nutrition.
Mineral’s Role During Lambing Season
Minerals support dozens of physiological functions that directly influence lamb survival. When ewes enter lambing season properly prepared, those systems work smoothly. When they don’t, even excellent management can feel like swimming upstream.
Let’s break down a few of the most important players.
Selenium & Vitamin E: The Muscle & Immunity Team
Selenium is one of the most well-known trace minerals in sheep production, and for good reason.
It supports muscle development, antioxidant protection, and immune function. Deficiencies are commonly associated with white muscle disease, weak lambs, and poor suckling reflexes.
During lambing season, selenium status can mean the difference between:
- A lamb that stands within minutes and finds the udder
- A lamb that struggles to lift its head
Strong muscles and a responsive immune system help lambs regulate body temperature, nurse quickly, and fight early-life pathogens. Vitamin E works alongside selenium, enhancing these protective effects.
In short, this pair helps lambs start life with momentum.
Copper: A Delicate Balance
Copper is a tricky balance in sheep. Too little impairs growth, fertility, and immune response. Too much can be toxic.
Yet when managed properly, copper plays an essential role in:
- Enzyme function
- Red blood cell formation
- Immune competence
- Wool quality
During lambing season, adequate copper helps support oxygen delivery throughout the body and strengthens overall resilience. The key is precision. Sheep-specific mineral programs are essential to maintain safe and effective levels. Always check labels to ensure that you are feeding a sheep-specific mineral and not another species supplement that could be deadly to your flock.
Zinc: Skin, Hooves, and Defense
Zinc often flies under the radar, but it’s critical for tissue integrity and immune response.
It supports:
- Skin and hoof health
- Wound healing
- Colostrum production
- Disease resistance
For newborn lambs, the first barrier against illness is healthy skin and mucosal tissue. Zinc helps fortify those natural defenses, giving lambs a better chance against environmental stressors.
Calcium & Magnesium: The Metabolic Engine
While trace minerals get plenty of attention, macrominerals like calcium and magnesium are just as important.
Calcium plays a central role in muscle contractions, including uterine contractions during labor. Deficiencies can contribute to weak labor, prolonged deliveries, and increased stress on both ewe and lamb.
Magnesium supports nerve and muscle function and helps maintain metabolic stability.
Together, they help ensure smoother deliveries and quicker recoveries, two factors that directly impact lamb survival.
Colostrum: The First Immunity Checkpoint
One of the most important predictors of lamb survival during lambing season is colostrum intake within the first few hours of life.
Colostrum isn’t just first milk. It’s a concentrated package of antibodies, energy, and nutrients that jump-starts the immune system.
Mineral status plays a significant role in both the quantity and quality of colostrum a ewe produces.
Properly supplemented ewes tend to:
- Produce more colostrum
- Have higher antibody concentrations
- Support stronger early immunity
When minerals are lacking, colostrum production may be delayed or reduced, leaving lambs vulnerable during their most critical window.
By the time a producer realizes a ewe has poor colostrum, options become reactive rather than preventative.
Preparation months earlier – during gestation – is what truly protects these newborn lambs.
Mineral Intake Challenges During Gestation
Even producers who provide a mineral supplement sometimes struggle with inconsistent intake.
Sheep can be selective feeders. Weather affects consumption. Forage mineral content fluctuates by soil type, rainfall, and season.
Cold stress, especially common leading into lambing season, can also alter mineral needs.
Common challenges include:
- Overconsumption or underconsumption of loose minerals
- Forage tying up certain minerals, making them unavailable
- Competition at feeders
- Palatability issues
Because of these variables, simply offering a mineral isn’t enough. Monitoring intake and choosing highly bioavailable sources matters.
Organic or chelated minerals, for example, are often absorbed more efficiently than inorganic forms, helping ensure nutrients actually reach the ewe rather than passing through unused. That’s where the DuraFerm vitamin and mineral supplements, powered by AO-Biotics® Amaferm®, benefit the flock when preparing for lambing season.
DuraFerm Provides Options
With three different formulas, there is a DuraFerm mineral ideal for any flock’s operational goals during gestation, as you prepare for lambing season.
DuraFerm® Concept•Aid® Sheep
Are you looking for a loose mineral that is ideal for your flock’s year-round nutrition needs? DuraFerm Concept•Aid Sheep is a free-choice vitamin and mineral supplement for sheep designed to support reproductive success.
It contains AO-Biotics® Amaferm®, a prebiotic research-proven to enhance digestibility and high levels of vitamin E for reproductive tract repair. Additionally, it supports embryo production and conception using organic trace minerals.
DuraFerm® Concept•Aid® Sheep Protein Tub
Another quality product that might be more ideal for lambing season is the DuraFerm Concept•Aid Sheep Protein Tub. This protein tub with vitamins and minerals for sheep supports reproductive success.
The 125-pound tub contains the Concept•Aid sheep mineral package in a 16% natural protein tub. It supports embryo production and conception using organic trace minerals and high levels of vitamin E.
Like all DuraFerm products, it contains Amaferm and enhances digestibility.
DuraFerm® Concept•Aid® Sheep HEAT®
Keeping your ewes bred during the heat of the summer is critical. That is why we formulated DuraFerm® Concept•Aid® HEAT® Sheep, a free-choice vitamin and mineral supplement that supports reproductive success when temperatures are above 70 degrees.
This formula contains HEAT technology, a combination of essential oils and garlic, to support animals when heat and insects are a challenge. Of course, it still contains the Concept•Aid sheep mineral package and Amaferm to enhance digestibility.
Like the other two formulas, it supports embryo production and conception using organic trace minerals and high levels of vitamin E, and all formulas pass that nutrition from mama to lambs.
Building a Mineral Strategy for Lambing Season Success
Strong lamb crops don’t happen by accident. They’re the result of deliberate preparation.
Here are practical steps producers can take to improve mineral readiness ahead of lambing season:
1. Test Forages & Feedstuffs
Know what you’re starting with. Forage analysis provides insight into existing mineral levels and highlights deficiencies that need supplementation. Just like you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t predict nutrition content without proper testing.
2. Use a Sheep-Specific Mineral
Avoid cattle or goat minerals that could contain unsafe copper levels. Formulations designed specifically for sheep provide balanced, safer ratios. DuraFerm formulates supplements specifically for sheep with recommended nutrient levels.
3. Start Early
Begin supplementation well before the last trimester. Building mineral stores takes time. Waiting until lambing season is too late. We actually recommend feeding DuraFerm Concept•Aid mineral 30 days pre-lambing through 30 days post-breeding for best results. However, many producers rely on it for a year-round nutrition program.
4. Monitor Intake
Track consumption to ensure sheep are receiving target amounts. Adjust feeder placement or palatability if needed.
The Payoff: Lambs that Hit the Ground Running
When mineral preparation is prioritized, the results often show up in simple but powerful ways during lambing season:
- Increased lamb vigor
- More aggressive nursing
- Fewer health treatments
- Lower death loss
- Healthier, more uniform groups.
That’s the kind of success that feels almost quiet because fewer problems demand attention.
Final Thoughts
Lambing season will always bring long nights and watchful eyes. That’s the nature of working with livestock. However, while some challenges are unavoidable, many are preventable.
Mineral preparation may not be the most visible part of a sheep nutrition program, yet it may be one of the most impactful. By supporting ewe health, colostrum quality, immune strength, and lamb vigor, minerals lay the groundwork for survival long before the first lamb hits the ground.
Hit the Ground Running with Quality Nutrition
Hit the ground running this lambing season with vitamin and mineral supplements from DuraFerm, powered by AO-Biotics Amaferm. DuraFerm products are available through the extensive BioZyme dealer network. Locate a dealer near you today.
Don’t forget to use the DuraFerm Sheep Gestation Calculator to plan your matings and explore our educational blog series
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