# 2 year old ewe never lambed



## bonbean01 (Aug 8, 2011)

We have a very sweet two year old ewe that has never had a lamb.  The other three ewes all lambed this January, but not her.  We've had her now with another ram in hopes she is pregnant now...only time will tell.  She is a dorper with a black head, and the first ram was an all white dorper who never bred her.  Read that some all white dorpers will not breed a black headed ewe?  Anyone familiar with that?


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## aggieterpkatie (Aug 9, 2011)

I've never heard that.  I know every ram I've known would have been willing to breed ANYTHING that stood still.


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## boykin2010 (Aug 9, 2011)

Yea me too. Is it possible it could be something wrong with ewe. Maybe she lost the lamb early in the pregnancy, or something else is wrong.


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## SheepGirl (Aug 9, 2011)

She may be sterile.

I've heard that if a ewe doesn't lamb in two years, she will become sterile. (For example, if a ewe doesn't breed her first two years, she won't breed; if a ewe had lambed three times and didn't breed the next two, she'll become sterile, etc.) Don't know if that's true or not.


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## boykin2010 (Aug 9, 2011)

I had an ewe last year that was bred early. Like really early! I think she wouldve been about 4 months when the previous owner bred her. I bought her, not knowing she was bred then she had her lamb before she was even a year old. There were a few problems and the mom didnt want to take care of the lamb and wouldnt let her nurse. WE tube fed the lamb for the first couple of days then the mom started acting better. We left the lamb with her and everything went back to normal. 2 and a half weeks later i noticed something strange hanging out of the ewe. It turns out it was after birth she never passed. I had to pull out the after birth and it was rotten and smelled SO bad. A friend of mine who has sheep said sometimes when something like that happens the ewe may never lamb again. Whether it makes them sterile or not, I dont know but it may have damaged something in her. That may make her never lamb again.  I guess we will find out next month when i breed that ewe again....  I will also be breeding her daughter which turned out to be my favorite lamb of the year


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## bonbean01 (Aug 9, 2011)

Thanks for the replies...although, not what I'd wanted to hear   She's such a sweet sheep (well, they all are...when you have such a small herd and interact with them everyday, we do get attached to them)...so...guess this is her last chance this year.  If she is sterile, it will break my heart since we can't afford to feed and keep her just as a pet, much as I'd love to.  Keeping fingers crossed and peering at  her closely several times a day hoping to see some evidence of a lamb in there...wish us luck...she's a darling and thinks she is a dog...LOL...


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## jhm47 (Aug 10, 2011)

You might try giving her a shot of one of the GNRH hormones.  There is cysterellen, Ovacyst, and fertigel.  Any of them will work.  Your ewe may be polycystic, and these will correct it and get her back to normal.


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## bonbean01 (Aug 10, 2011)

Thank you for that suggestion....I will look into it for sure...as strange as this may sound, we get so attached to these sweet gentle animals and to have to lose my most beloved ewe would be so hard to do.  These are meat sheep, and we do eat their offspring, but to eat Suzie would not be a possibility!!!!  Shudder the thought!!!!!


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