# First Lambing!



## mysunwolf (Mar 3, 2014)

Creating this thread waaayyyyy before the girls are due... especially because I have no idea when they are due! They don't like me to touch them, or really get close to them, so it's hard to get photos. Don't ask me how I plan to get them to stand for milking  

I have two bottle lambs, and two (hopefully) pregnant ewes. I always figure you can't really go by what someone tells you. The white is an experienced ewe, the spotted is a ewe lamb.  

Anyone want to take any guesses as to when they are due? I thought the white girl was going to be due soon from looking at her bag and teats, until I finally grabbed her to take a look under her tail. Tight, pink, not swollen at all. Huh. So trying to get the experts' opinions, using bad photos of course. 

White ewe, from the side:



 

Here you can see her "dip"--at least, I'm assuming that's what it is, and not that she's just skinny!

 
Bag is a decent size, but I think it should be bigger before lambing.


 

Out-of-focus vulva shot.


 

Spotty ewe lamb smiling.


 

Spotty ewe lamb from the side.


 

Any thoughts?


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## Womwotai (Mar 3, 2014)

Speaking from very little experience here (as the disclaimer), I was in the same situation with ewes who are not that handleable.  I found that while they were eating grain I was able to lift their tails to check their vulva but that was the best I could do.  My ewes bags looked about like your white ewe's does, except that close to delivery the teats stuck out at an almost 90 degree angle.  I would say your white ewe is getting close - it is hard to tell on the spotty one.  The biggest sign though, was the vulva.  One morning I looked at one of them and her vulva was really swollen and red-looking.  At 9am I texted DH that "we might have lambs soon" and when I went to do my chores at 4:30pm, that ewe came up with a little lamb in tow.

Six days later, while checking the other two ewes, I noticed another whose vulva was swollen and red.  That afternoon she left the flock to come up to the barn by herself.  I noticed her getting up and lying back down several times, and at one point she stuck her head through the fence to watch what I was doing (never showed any interest in me when I wasn't carrying grain before).  By next morning she had delivered her little ram lamb.

I have one more ewe who is larger than either of the other two ever were, but so far her vulva is still tight and pink so every morning when I check I figure "not today".


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## mysunwolf (Mar 3, 2014)

That is really good to know about the vulvas! I know that I see a lot of the back end of goats this time of year 

Kind of looks like they won't be due until end of March, April time frame, at least for the white one. The spotted one... who knows. Though she definitely look pregnant in the belly when she lies down.

I have wanted to try socializing them with some whole grains, maybe some fodder. I can't find any processed sheep pellets around here that are UNmedicated! Gives me hope though that I have some time to get them a little more tamed down rather than the crazy sheep that they are. 

Sounds like that really big ewe of yours has got twins


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## Parsnip (Mar 3, 2014)

Haha, I'm kind of the same with Wom, with not having a TON of experience.
I'm terrible at guessing too  
My first experience with lambing involved checking daily and thinking the ewe was going to lamb any minute.
Her belly also dropped 10 days before lambing.
My other ewe, her belly dropped 5 hours before she lambed...
I like the looks of the white ewe though! She's a hair sheep?
Such a sweet face!!!

_Fortunately_, all my ewes are fond of me most of the time.
I sat with them for the longest time, day after day when we first got them 
The ewes who have had lambies aren't as sociable right now, but that's understandable, they are busy!
When I have grain in a bucket... it's like the sound of angels voices for them or something.
Sheep go crazy for grain.
_Unfortunately_ both of my alpacas are smart and have realized that when I get the grain out in the evening, it means it's time to go in the barn for the night. They like staying out, and won't go in the barn unless I run out to get them. Like little kids.

I have a lambing thread going right now, although lambing is done for now.
I swear I've put of thousands of udder and vulva pictures on there haha.
http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/lambing-2014-parsnip.27791/


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## Womwotai (Mar 3, 2014)

mysunwolf said:


> I can't find any processed sheep pellets around here that are UNmedicated! Gives me hope though that I have some time to get them a little more tamed down rather than the crazy sheep that they are.
> 
> Sounds like that really big ewe of yours has got twins


Yeah, I am thinking maybe twins too 

I just use "All Stock" for the sheep and goats together, since I run them together.  I do also have a bag of Noble Goat but since I don't want the sheep to have that, I only give it to my goats when I can get them separated from the sheep which doesn't happen every day.  The "All Stock" is a fairly generic formula, said to be for cattle, sheep, horses etc.  It probably is not a perfect nutritional product for them, but they have 7 acres of pasture to graze (plus hay from said pasture over the winter), so the grain is really only to socialize them.  It works in the sense that in the mornings they mill around waiting for their grain to come.  And when I have the grain scoop in my hand, they'll bowl me over to get to the feed trough.  And I can gently raise the tail and check the vulva while they're eating.  But as far as getting them really friendly….handling is still a rodeo.  Giving them their CDT shots prior to lambing was a real circus, that at one point landed me on the ground with a sheep standing OVER me.  I had been hoping it would be the other way around and that situation aroused the mirth of my family.  Now their feet are overgrown and I need to trim them but I'll have to have a stiff drink before I go out and start THAT LOL.


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## Parsnip (Mar 3, 2014)

OOP
You reminded me Wom, I need to trim my girls's hooves before I put them with the ram.
UGH haha


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## BrownSheep (Mar 3, 2014)

I would say you white gal will go within the next couple weeks.
 For your spotty ewe.


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 4, 2014)

For grain....ask for a no copper added stock feed.


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## mysunwolf (Mar 4, 2014)

Parsnip, I have actually been through most of your lambing thread, I love seeing all the photos! All of mine are hair sheep, the white one is my favorite but I think the spotted one will make nice lambs--hopefully a ewe one of these days that I can take off her and raise to be friendly.

I can get some nicely priced whole grains like Barley, so I may go with that at first for feeding. Then they have their loose mineral of sea salt and kelp, but I will probably be getting a general loose sheep mineral to put in there that has all the other things.

Womwotai, I know exactly what you mean about injections!! They are small enough that I can wrangle them (no idea how much they weigh, though), but I'm sure that does nothing to help their fear of humans  Mine just got their hoofs trimmed, but it certainly involved two very strong people!

I will keep snooping all the other lambing threads. And if there are ever babies on this end... I'll post pictures!


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## norseofcourse (Mar 4, 2014)

mysunwolf said:


> I can't find any processed sheep pellets around here that are UNmedicated!



If you have a Tractor Supply store around, they carry (or should be able to get) pelleted sheep feed that is unmedicated (their Dumor brand).  It has molasses and IMHO the quality is a little less than what I finally found and feed, but it was the only other non-medicated option I was able to find (without a two ton minimum order....).

I feed Buckeye 14% lamb and beef pellets nonmedicated, number 41350 on the tag.  I only feed it when they need it (I keep a good feel on their body condition by feeling their backbone and hip bones).


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## mysunwolf (Mar 5, 2014)

About taming the girls in time for lambing/milking: I have taken out a few handfuls of rolled outs and pearled barley to them mid-morning for the past two days.

The first time, yesterday, they both stuck their heads in the bucket to eat. The spotted ewe even let me scratch her behind the ears, along her back. The white ewe would not let me pet her, but did end up eating some from my hand.

Then today, I took the grain out again. The white ewe followed me around, baaing. They both eagerly stuck their heads in the bucket. And they BOTH let me pet them  I even felt the spotted ewes belly and touched her teats. 

I will keep at it, but looks like they're going to be fine with me touching them as long as their heads are in a grain bucket. This is MUCH better luck than I've had with my too-smart heifers. I don't think sheep are stupid, just more forgiving than most animals. Or, it's a short-term memory problem.  

Now when the grain runs out... that's another story!



norseofcourse said:


> If you have a Tractor Supply store around, they carry (or should be able to get) pelleted sheep feed that is unmedicated (their Dumor brand).



Funny, our TSC hasn't gotten the non-medicated sheep OR goat feed in stock now for a few months... I'm not saying it's Nebraska, but we are often out of luck finding good supplies around here! There is a place a few hours away that's a "natural" gardening supply that also has livestock feed & supplements that may be able to order me some nice unmedicated sheep feed.


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## mysunwolf (Mar 17, 2014)

Okay, so the white ewe... well, either her udder has shrunk or her dangling belly has eclipsed her udder.  I am totally at a loss as she doesn't even really look pregnant anymore. Well, not true, she is still extremely sunken, and her belly is lower than I've ever seen it, and big.

It's just odd as to why the udder would SHRINK. I am pretty sure she's pregnant. She looks pregnant. Sort of? I promise I'll get some photos soon, if I can ever get the sky to stop throwing *freezing rain* at me and the animals.


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## luvmypets (Mar 17, 2014)

Ive only had one lamb ever. But i read there udders get tight to keep all the milk from getting bacteria and junk so the lambs dont get sick.


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## mysunwolf (Mar 31, 2014)

The white ewe has been named Darla and the spotted adult ewe has been named Drusilla.

Darla's bag has been shrinking for the past few weeks, which is really concerning me. My only thought was that the young lambs at he last home had kept her in milk during her pregnancy, and that once she was separated from them she shrunk in order to save her energy for the upcoming birth. 

Today, Darla began holding her tail up, and there is more orangey looking discharge than normal. No other signs, except that she has been looking VERY sunken around the hips, and her belly is dangling very low. Can't seem to figure out the ligament thing.

Dru is getting bigger in the belly, but it will probably be another month or two before any action on her.

The bottle lambs, Spotty and Puff Puff, and growing huge. They're eating hay and frolicking with the big sheep. Now just hoping they don't get kicked by the cattle they're penned with...


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## mysunwolf (Mar 31, 2014)

Ah, and I just noticed today that she is lying down a lot more than usual. Like... just lying in the middle of the pasture. This is strange, as these girls like to stand and graze/eat hay most of the day, and if they do lie down they go into the barn to do so. In two weeks, I'm going away for a few days, so I'm worried she's going to decide to lamb then!


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## Parsnip (Apr 1, 2014)

I'd been waiting to hear an update from this thread!
Lol I was excited to hear about things.

Any way you could post pics?

Haha, my last ewe that lambed, I had a dentist appointment on her due date and she was in early labor when I left for it. Luckily I got back before she lambed


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## mysunwolf (Apr 1, 2014)

Parsnip, your lambing thread has been a HUGE help in this whole process! I've been going there, looking at the photos, trying to figure out the tail and lying around thing, and from what happened to Wendy it looks like Darla could still take a while  

Her belly has gotten HUGE over the past week! Not much change on the udder front, which is what makes me think she is not that close.

I'm definitely going to try to get some pictures over the next few days!


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## Parsnip (Apr 1, 2014)

YOU LOOKED AT MY LAMBING THREAD
What an honor. 

Wendy wasn't super huge and had small-ish lambs!
SO maybe your ewe will lamb sooner than you think?

YES PICTURES ARE AWESOME


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## AriesX (Apr 1, 2014)

I am new to lambing this year - so certainly no expert but I will say we thought some of our ewes were about to pop weeks before they lambed and some still haven't that I thought we pretty far along.   We have 14 ewes of which 11 or 12 were definitely bred.  8 have lambed so far.  Some I knew but others totally surprised us.   

It's great that you've spent time socializing them before they lamb.  We've had the most trouble with the ones that don't trust us.  Our most recent ewe really doesn't like us and we were unable to get her lamb to latch.  We've been able to help some of the others latch onto the teat to get them off to the right start but this one we've had to bottlefeed for his first day.


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## mysunwolf (Apr 2, 2014)

Aries, I think you're right, I'm beginning to feel like they're going to take quite a bit more time to lamb... or at least constantly try to fool me along the way.

These girls still don't really trust people at all, but we were able to put Dru on her butt for hoof trimming without a fuss, so hoping to do the same with Darla here before she lambs. 

The photos ended up being bad...

Here is a general bag shot, and you can also see the tail lifting (this happens all the time, not just when she's trying to lick herself), and the orangey discharge.




 

Raised tail, low belly, sticking her tongue out


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## Parsnip (Apr 4, 2014)

THE PHOTOS ARE GREAT.

Lol, my two ewes had orange-y discharge the month before and up to the lambing.
I love the looks of Darla(the white one is that correct?)


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## mysunwolf (Apr 29, 2014)

Yep, Darla is the white one! She is definitely a pretty solid ewe. Ugh, an entire month? 

At this point, even my sheep-expert neighbor is not sure that these girls are actually pregnant. I took a picture of Darla's bag again today to try and compare, but I don't think I see any changes (minus the beginning of her shedding and scouring like crazy):




 

Her belly definitely looks a little bigger, though. I could've sworn I saw something move in there today. I'm hoping that if she does have a lamb in there, it'll be born in May.

She has definitely gained some weight. We've been having to trim her hooves every few weeks as she has some foot rot from where she'd been improperly trimmed. When I went to wrangle her this time, she was much much heavier than before. So either pregnant, or getting fat 

And, of course, I added another ewe to the flock. She has twin ewe lambs on her! Here's the whole flock:


 

You can see that one of her girls is much smaller than the other. Mom is not producing enough milk for both, so I've been trying to bottle feed but that lamb is so stubborn  I've got a creep set up with some lamb mash that I hope will give her a boost until the ewe can come into her milk a little more. I've checked the ewes udder and everything looks good on that end. Guess I'll have to wait and see on a few fronts!


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## SheepGirl (Apr 29, 2014)

Are you sure she has foot rot?

If she does, I would have her penned off away from any sheep areas because it is contagious and lives in the soil!


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## mysunwolf (Apr 29, 2014)

SheepGirl said:


> Are you sure she has foot rot?
> 
> If she does, I would have her penned off away from any sheep areas because it is contagious and lives in the soil!


 
Yep, I'm pretty sure it's foot rot--when I trim that particular hoof, there is a really distinctive nasty smell  It has gotten better, though. I would love to have her penned separately but we are short on predator control and space, so all together they are  I'm going to do a zinc oxide foot bath on everyone as a preventative for that very reason. Thank you for the advice though, it is always much appreciated!!


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## SheepGirl (Apr 29, 2014)

Not a problem, just be aware you will probably have to deal with it again in the future  The bacteria lives in the soil so the sheep will have the opportunity to be reinfected by it.


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## Parsnip (May 11, 2014)

ANY NEWS YET mysunwolf?

I'm interested to see if any of your ewes have lambed yet!


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## mysunwolf (May 11, 2014)

Parsnip said:


> ANY NEWS YET mysunwolf?
> 
> I'm interested to see if any of your ewes have lambed yet!



No, but I really appreciate you checking up on them!  I am beginning to have serious doubts. I'm going to give them until the end of May and then give up and do deworming/vaccinations etc. (since I've been waiting until lambing to do some of that). Luckily I paid a price for them as if they weren't bred, so I'm not out a whole lot. And planning to breed everyone, even the ewe lambs, this November. But I was still really hoping for some lambs this year!


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## Parsnip (May 26, 2014)

Any lambs? 


I'm going to do a first batch of breeding in late July so the lambing correlates with my Winter Break from college.

Then I'm gonna do a second breeding in October for the January/Feb born lambs.
Got things all planned out!


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## mysunwolf (Jul 22, 2014)

So the time has passed that the man I purchased them from said they may be pregnant. However, it has still not been 5 months from when I purchased them 

Wow, see Parsnip, I was trying to plan things out. I bet some day I'll get things planned out. Some day...

Right now, after having given up hope, I'm worried that they are pregnant after all? This is very confusing. I have a ram and am actually planning to breed in November/December for late March/early June lambs. I know that's a big window, but, er, my lack of planning has made it difficult. If I can figure out a way to do it, I may take the ram out before the end of December in order to have a better window.


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## mysunwolf (Jul 22, 2014)

Oops, forgot the updated pictures of Darla. You can see her bag has shrunk significantly, which is what made me believe she wasn't pregnant after all. But then my neighbor came over and saw her belly and asked, "Is she pregnant?" So you can see, she's a very confusing sheep. Zinc oxide and trimming have helped her foot rot, but her feet still tend to grow a little funny. She's a cull for sure for next season.


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