# Heavy & Pregnant Ewe with Hurt Leg



## mysunwolf (Jan 29, 2015)

Okay, this is my first cry for help in a long line this year.

I found my oldest (3-6 years, I haven't exactly figured out accuracy with teeth yet) and fattest ewe Darla limping in the pasture today, not too bad but she was definitely lying down more than usual. Checked her hooves and they are okay, may have to trim them just a touch but they are not too bad, no swelling or sores or rot. I think it might be a pulled muscle but I'm not sure. 

She is HUGE and continuing to gain weight on just about nothing. My setup is very small so I have not separated her out and she has been getting a handful of wheat each evening, in addition to free choice hay and grazing (though everything is pretty much dead). 

Should I try to build a small pen and separate her from the flock, feeding her something like alfalfa pellets in the evenings instead of wheat? She definitely hogs feed at the trough. I have to feed the flock something to get them into the barn at night since that is our setup right now, but I am concerned about her gaining more weight. However, I'm also concerned about putting her on a diet while she is pregnant.

Should I watch her for a little while and see if her leg gets better even without a diet?

My main concern is that she is this huge and only 2.5 months pregnant. I have no idea how she will carry her weight when she is closer to lambing. I'm also concerned for her to actually lamb at this rate, considering her size, and am definitely on the lookout for prolapse.

Very worried right now. She doesn't look that big compared to some ewes I've seen, but compared to her bone structure she is enormous. I will try to get some pictures over the next few days so you all can see. She's the most unfriendly of all the ewes and avoids me like the plague, so it's difficult. 

As usual, thanks for any advice!!


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## mysunwolf (Jan 31, 2015)

Maybe I'm panicking... went out this morning while Darla's rumen was low and she doesn't look _that_ fat. They've been on some rough ground, so maybe she sprained something. She is not limping quite as bad today.




 

 

 

She's such a beautiful sheep is she wasn't such a pain!


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## purplequeenvt (Jan 31, 2015)

My guess about her leg is that she twisted something. She is very heavy for her bone structure.

I'd be inclined to put her on a diet. She has a lot more potential for lambing difficulties including pregnancy toxemia and birthing problems being overweight. 

I'm not saying to starve her of course.  If you can, try to separate her when you grain.

How much grain are you feeding? I'd give her a small handful of the wheat as a treat, but no more. Also, if at all possible, make her walk to get to food/water/shelter. Separate them a bit so she can't just sit there and stuff her face.


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## mysunwolf (Jan 31, 2015)

Thanks for the reply!

We're at about 1/3lb per sheep daily, closer to 1/2lb for Darla since she hogs it. My ewes are on the smaller side of the scale, around 120-130lbs, so I figured they didn't need much grain. I'd like to be feeding the ewe lambs more than the ewes, but that's for when I get my barn expansion 

The main hay is 300+ feet from their barn, so they do get quite a bit of exercise, plus they have a few acres of forage that they like to graze as well.

I was thinking of separating her out and feeding her 1/3lb of alfalfa pellets daily instead of wheat. Do you think she would still add weight with alfalfa pellets? Don't have access to alfalfa hay right now.


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## SheepGirl (Jan 31, 2015)

I would just feed her hay. A ewe with her BCS doesn't need any grain or feed, especially this early in pregnancy.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 31, 2015)

Darla has such a sweet face and I hope her limp continues to improve and go away!  Had a problem with my heaviest ewe Dolly about a week before she lambed...assumed it was a twisted ankle kind of thing, but didn't improve...so put her up and took a bucket of warm soapy water and cloths out there and washed that hoof completely so that I could see better....then I saw it...a large hay/brush stalk, stuck in the middle of her hoof in the tender area...got that out, rinsed it and coated it with Blue Kote and within 20 minutes, her limp was gone.  Never hot or swollen and no fever, but gave her a shot of penicillin anyways.  I had looked many times and could never see anything until I actually washed it completely and got my nose and eyes up super close.  Not sure if there is anything like that with Darla, but thought I'd mention it just in case.  Hoping for no more limping from your pretty girl and a healthy pregnancy and beautiful baby/babies


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## purplequeenvt (Jan 31, 2015)

I would separate her from the others for graining time and give just a handful of the wheat to keep her happy. She really doesn't need any grain at all.


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## Bossroo (Feb 1, 2015)

Wheat being more expensive than other grains and that wheat often passes through the digestive tract undigested when not  chewed and so it is wasted money, so it is recommended to rough grind it first. Wheat has a low calcium content, so supplementing calcium should be considered.  Also, wheat has a tendency to "ball up " in the digestive tract ( think unbacked bread or pizza dough )   in sheep as well as other animals and will cause digestive tract compaction distress .


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## mysunwolf (Feb 1, 2015)

Bossroo, do you mean that you think the wheat is causing this issue with my ewe? Or is your comment an aside and deals with the flock health in general? That's good to know about wheat with sheep, I have read quite a few articles especially those directed at producers in the north that said corn and wheat were essentially interchangeable and that all grains were better fed whole especially when dealing with adult sheep. Though I can see that it would be smart to supplement calcium. Wheat is a few more dollars than corn, but is cheaper than barley or oats. It's also hard to persuade my customers that corn is an acceptable food to feed livestock, even though I've seen that it's the best for most species IMO.

Honestly, someday we may feed no grain at all, but that's another story.

Thanks for the good advice all, I made a pen to separate Darla out in the evenings but she had none of it. I put a collar on her and have been holding her back from the trough while the others eat, and so far that's working. I did check all her hooves for tiny rocks, hay stems, thorns, etc and couldn't find anything but I may wash them like @bonbean01 suggested just to make sure.


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## mysunwolf (Feb 1, 2015)

Huh, I forgot we already went through this--that at 0.3% of the diet, it doesn't make one lick of difference whether I use corn or wheat or barley. 

Other fun fact: the hay we bought has 0.78% calcium, so they shouldn't have any problems in that department.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 1, 2015)

I would encourage you to wash her foot thoroughly and take a really close look....for a few days I picked up Dolly's bad foot and saw nothing....put her in the chute, squeezed her to not move....put some sheep pellets in front of her to keep her busy and distracted and I sat behind her on a stool with my bucket of soapy warm water and doctor Bon kit and just kept washing and washing it...I would NEVER had seen it without that washing...now I truly did get my face right into that hoof...but then I am kidded about how I pamper my sheep, but you know...so far in 9 years I have never lost a sheep or lamb...must be doing something right?  Or it is just a matter of time?  Or dumb luck?  Yes, my sheep are spoiled rotten and super tame...just how I like it


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## bonbean01 (Feb 1, 2015)

mysunwolf....feel free to message me privately...I love sheep and so many helped me when I started out...and I would help anyone with my limited experience anytime!


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## mysunwolf (Feb 2, 2015)

Thank you bon, I will definitely have to get in there and get familiar with her hooves! She looks very stylish in her new collar, should be easier to pin her against the wall with that on. I may have to message you to ask all my crazy sheep questions before I create panicked posts on here  You are so lucky not only to have your very friendly sheep, but also no losses. I think it can't all have to do with luck, you must be doing a LOT right! But is it safe to partially blame good Katahdin/mixed genetics?

Her limp has almost gone away completely this morning though, so I am really betting it was a mild injury--with her bulk, I would not be surprised.


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## mysunwolf (Feb 8, 2015)

So... now she is favoring her back left leg (a different leg than before).

Could it be some sort of hoof rot infection that is making its way through all her hooves? Is she maybe injuring herself over and over again because she is heavy? I can't figure this out.

Would it hurt to pen her separately and ration her hay? Right now she is free choice on hay and some dormant forage. My worry is that penning her will decrease her exercise (though she is lying down a lot, the flock does roam back and forth over three acres throughout the day).


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## mysunwolf (Feb 8, 2015)

Ahck, nevermind. Went out and checked her tonight and she had something stuck in between her hooves on the back left foot--bon, you were right! Pulled it out (not sure what "it" was) and there's an open wound, a little inflamed but doesn't look infected. If I can catch her, I want to check her again in a few days. She has been avoiding the barn at night because she hates it when I steer her away from the grain trough. Don't know what was wrong with the front hoof, but I trimmed all of them anyway as they were starting to get a little long. She has more hoof problems than any of my other sheep and I am just not that attentive to the hooves


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