Newborn Lamb & Kid Covers

Eric D from Ohio

Work out great for wet new borns, in cold weather.

Jennifer C from Montana

These are awesome! Lambs do well, and they are washable.

Janet M from Virginia

We have two newborn Nigerian Dwarf goats. It's getting late in the year and the weather is unpredictable. We are bottle feeding so have the babies on our back porch, bringing them inside when it dips below freezing. I purchased the small size which is a bit big but I just flip up the back end and they're good to go. Unfortunately two of the four coats I purchased did not have the leg holes cut. That's 50%..... need to work on quality control.

Anna M from Missouri

Nice, simple construction. Lambing is done for the year, but this will be in the lambing kit for next year. Would like to see a size for a 19-15 pound lamb.

April S from Washington

I absolutely love this product. OK, yes, some of my more experienced sheep-keeping friends teased me for putting sweaters on animals that were born already wearing their own sweaters, especially in my moderate climate. Well, it was windy, and they were born wet. They stopped shivering when their little coats were put on, and immediately started nursing. Because they were warm, they spent more time up and nursing than a cold lamb, who may stay curled up in bedding to stay warm. They drank so much colostrum that first day that they were in food comas when they laid down. Just because they may not need coats doesn't mean that they don't benefit from them. I didn't lose a single lamb this year.

There's several things about this specific product that I really like. First, the design is really simple. No straps that can come loose or get tangled in. Very intuitive to use, and it doesn't come off. It's not restrictive if properly fitted, so the lambs can run and play without restriction or chaffing. Second, I like the material. Someone in an earlier post said that it was flimsy. I disagree. It's not heavy, like denim, but you don't want something like that for this purpose. It's a strong but soft material that doesn't tear or stretch, dries quickly when wet, and is thick enough to be warm but not so thick that the lamb will overheat if you have a sunny day. It's the exact right thickness. You're not putting this over a naked animal, you're using this as an overcoat for an animal that is already wearing a permanent sweater. Third, despite its quality, it is cheap enough to get out scissors and customize it if needed. Someone complained that it didn't fit over their Boer kid's head. Someone complained that the openings for the back legs were too tight for their goat. Well, don't most farmers own scissors? Make the openings bigger! This cover is less than $6. Even if you never have another newborn with a big head, or thick legs, or a long back, you only spend $5.65 if you customize this little coat and can't use it again next year! The material doesn't continue to rip where you end your cut (I tried), so the coat won't start to shred and fall apart. Fourth, it is washable and reusable. My lambs got these pretty dirty, not just with dirt (and the placenta that I rubbed on a few of them to ensure that it smelled right), but with lanolin. A lot of lanolin! I threw them in the washing machine and they came out cleaner, but still not ready for next year. So I put a scoop of oxyclean in the bottom of a 2 gallon bucket, filled it with warm water to dissolve the oxyclean, and soaked them for 3 weeks. Then I ran them through the washing machine again, and they came out as good as new. (I used unscented products so they won't smell weird at next use.) They didn't fall apart, they didn't fray at the edges or where I enlarged the holes, they didn't stretch, and they didn't fade. They literally look like new, except for the hole enlargements. (Cool to slightly warm water and hang dry to prevent shrinkage.)

As far as what weights they fit, I have Katahdin sheep. The lambs this year ranged from a birth weight of 7.7 lbs to 11.9 lbs. The small size fit loosely on the 7.7 lb lamb, but not so lose that it needed a belt, and there was no risk that it would come off of her or she would get tangled up in it. The small size fit the 8.5 - 10.5 lb lambs perfectly, with no adjustments needed. The small size was a little tight on the 11 lb lambs, and the neck opening and hind leg openings had to be enlarged just a little. The 11.9 lb lamb was huge -- not just wide but long. She needed to have all the openings enlarged to fit into the small size. I enlarged the neck opening first, then put her into it, then enlarged the leg openings as needed for comfort -- a little in both front and back of the front legs, a fair amount in back of the back legs, and a little on the inside of the back legs for a perfect fit. It says that the small size fits up to 15 lbs. Possibly in some breeds, but not for Katahdins. One of the ram lambs grew faster than expected, and at 14.9 lbs I had to cut it off of him. No biggie -- it'll sew back together easily.

I ordered a few of the large size, just in case I had a lamb get sick when it was larger, but haven't had to use them. They look substantially larger than the small size, to the point that I didn't consider using them for my largest newborn. If I were to have any complaints about this product, it would be that they only come in 2 sizes. I'd love to see a medium size, something that would fit the 10-15 lb lambs easily. And an extra-small size would be really important for some farms. The producer that I bought my ewes from is starting to select for triplets instead of twins. Some of those triplet lambs are down in the 4-6 lb range. At that size, the small cover would likely be too small without belts, and those tiny ones are the newborns that truly need the extra warmth.

Also, it would be nice to have more than 2 colors. I had no problems with the bright colors causing the ewes to reject their lambs, but a few people have reported that.. Possibly some light browns, beige, off white, more natural lamb/kid colors might be useful.