Mr Bailey said with lambing having started, it was important to keep energy supplied to expecting ewes as well as those with lambs, especially where twins were expected.

He said it was often forgotten that ewes carrying a single lamb needed 50 per cent more energy in the last trimester and this increased to 2.5 times as much in the first month after lambing.

Ewes with twins had an "amazing demand for energy", with those energy needs being 2.5 times in the last month and climbing to 3.2 times the normal energy demands during early lambing.

With poor pasture growth over the last few months, many sheep producers had been feeding out large quantities of grain to meet the shortfall from pasture, Mr Bailey said.

"Most had planned the feeding regime so grain was introduced slowly to allow the ewe to acclimatise and not die from grain poisoning but end with a ration filling the energy gap."

Mr Bailey said the recent snow also highlighted the extra energy demands the ewe with lambs would have as she tried to stay warm, feed a lamb and stay sheltered.

"The wind-chill factor will dramatically increase her energy needs," he said.

"If she is sheltering from snow and strong winds, the energy to feed her lambs will come from stored fat.

"Sheep in poor condition have little choice but to move about grazing and that's when problems can begin to occur.

"An internal worm burden would further exacerbate the problem."

Pre-lamb health checks, regular monitoring of ewe condition score, feeding to meet ewe energy needs and preparing appropriate lambing paddocks with shelter for ewes and lambs were the key targets, Mr Bailey said.

He recommended the Sheep Connect program, which can be found at www.sheepconnecttasmania.com.au for more information on condition scoring and feed budgeting.