# day 154 STILL no lamb *but* her sister finally lambed (pics: post #13)



## patandchickens

What do you think?

This is Hope, 15 months old, first freshener obviously, Dorset X British Milksheep, today is day 149 since the ram marked her. The pink mark on the mid-back of the udder is where I slightly buttonholed her when crutching the other week, oops.







This is her sister Peace, same age and breed, today is day 142 since the ram marked her. She is my little Peacie-pie friend so unlike Hope she was willing to stand still for a close up of her hoo-ha, the second pic.










Those are the two I mainly care about. But since I am posting pics, here is also as good a shot I can get of the weird little shetland ewe, 3 yrs old and has lambed before, but I never saw any mark on her nor saw her in heat so if she was bred at all I could not tell you when it would have been, presumably later than Hope or Peace were (ram was only removed a couple weeks ago). Could not get hoo-ha pic but it seems substantially less puffy/saggy than the other two's.






And while I'm at it, here is where they are living right now, it is their summer night-yard and winter full-time quarters, about 30x80' (half of which is behind me and thus out of pic). Well actually in winter they have access to the adjacent ram paddock too, not shown.






So am I just imagining that they are pregnant?? I am getting rather frustrating checking all the time for nonexistant lambs. Am beginning to suspect that either they are not pregnant, or that sheep do not actually produce lambs at all, lambs are manufactured in a factory in Taiwan, shipped flat-packed to North America and inflated by the end user.

Thanks for any opinions,

Pat


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## Bossroo

Yup, yup, and yup...  those kinky  party woolies just didn't read, understand and follow the rules when they attended the social comming out party at the lower 40.  You know, drink till you drop, then wake up with a headache and wonder what happend? They even broke the curfew rules and stayed out all night , and then some.  Those party animals !!!   Now, tell them to shop  for blue and/or pink booties, take a la'mase class and reserve a room in the stable.


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## patandchickens

Bossroo, you very silly sometimes  LOL  

But thank you for weighing in, and hopefully you're right. Unless one of those "yups" was actually for my conspiracy theory that there is no such thing a lambing!

Pat


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## Bossroo

Well then, Pat... just go out to the pasture and perform the moon dance in your birthday suit at midnight of the full moon. Works every time !


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## aggieterpkatie

Y'all are funny.  I especially like the part about lambs being manufactured in Taiwan.    I'd say yup, yup, and yup as well.    The first girl has quite a nice udder going on. Probably won't be much longer!


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## puredelite

Those first two do look like they are bagging out, some ewes show a little more than other's. Also, looks like their "Hoo-ha's"(?) are getting ready for the day as well. Some ewes also don't always watch the calendar so don't deliver right on the 150 day mark. It is so hard to be patient isn't it?


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## boothcreek

It IS hard to be patient! Try not knowing at all about when the birthdate is, then its a whole new game. My Rams has been with the ewes since sept, never even seen one decend heat or breeding......... so I diligently watch udders now! One lambed in Feb and the other girls look like nothin yet....... I know they are preggers, I see their tummies jump sometimes just when THE day is I do not know.


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## patandchickens

I'm sorry to keep bothering you.  But Hope (the first one pictured in the original post, the one with the biggest udder) is now day 152 and nothing happening.  

Could experienced sheep people please take one more look and tell me if it seems possible that she could have the large udder purely 'cuz she is a dairy-type sheep, _without_ actually being pregnant? And HOW diagnostic of pregnancy is the puffy-saggy vulva (hers looks basically identical to Peace's, the third pic in the original post)? 

Am I shovelling grain into them and going out to check them every night for nothing?? 

At what date overdue do I either call the vet (if you are CONVINCED she's pregnant) or just say the heck with it and conclude she is merely fat woolly saggy and greedy rather than actually in lamb?

(I am quite sure of the dates, she was marked Nov 1 and then not at all during the next color of crayon)

Aaargh,

Pat


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## boykin2010

She really looks pregnant to me. I have only been into sheep for about 3 months now but that is EXACTLY how one of my ewes looked when i got tired of waiting on her to have a baby. The next morning she had a HUGE single male. I think sometimes when they have larger lambs it may take longer for them to to actually have it. My opinion is she is very close. Dont give up on her.  Also was your ram experienced?


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## aggieterpkatie

She's definitely bred. She's a first timer, so she wouldn't have any udder at all if she were open.  It's common for first timers to go later vs. earlier.  I wouldn't worry.  Day 155 is still pretty common.


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## patandchickens

Of course she had to wait for *really crappy* weather   It was cold, windy and pouring rain last night. I went out at 1 a.m., sheep were perfectly normal. Went back out at 5 a.m. after walking the dog, and there was a lamb! Woo hoo!   It had clearly *just* been born, probably mere minutes before I got out there.

She was in the lee of the big barn, but I moved her into the more protected shed and shut them in there with a sheet of plywood and some close-boarded pallets. Trimmed the umbilical and dipped it in iodine, and let them be.

The funny thing is that at 5 I *assumed* it was the overdue ewe, Hope, but when I took the kids out to see the lamb this morning before the schoolbus, I realized "Hey... wait... that's *Peace*!" She was just day 147. Oh well, details details. Hope is still vast with lamb and apparently planning on staying that way forever.

I am not certain whether the lamb has sucked, much if at all. It's certainly been up and pokin' around back there in the exact right place, but only for maybe 20 seconds at a time does it get all tail-wiggly. Then either Peace moves aside, or the lamb gives up and goes to have a lie-down. *How active is a <6 hrs old lamb supposed to be? *

I figure I will give it a few more hours and see how it seems, if there is a question I suppose I will try to halter and tie the ewe and try to encourage the lamb to get a better drink but I am not sure how that will work, or milk her out a bit into a cup and syringe feed the lamb if I have to? 

(e.t.a. - was out there just now, got Peace up and the lamb went in to suck, I hunkered down and pulled some wool otu of the way so I could see what was going on, the lamb definitely had the teat and was sucking for 15 sec or so but then quit. Is this appropriate for a newborn, or what? Milk [well, colostrum presumably] does come out when I try both teats by hand, so I *assume* the lamb was getting some?)

(edited again to add -- forgot to say, it's a girl )

Pat


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## aggieterpkatie

Congrats!!!!     And a ewe lamb to boot!  

If you stripped the teats so you know they're not plugged, and you saw the ewe with a teat in her mouth, it's safe to assume she's nursing sufficiently well.  One thing to check is what she does after she's gotten up from laying down.  If she stands up and stretches, she's good.  If she just stands and is all hunchy and pathetic looking, she's probably cold and hungry.  

But it sounds like everything is going just fine! Yay!!!


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## patandchickens

Yes, isn't Peacey clever to have had a girl 

Lamb stretches upon rising, exactly as you describe, so *hopefully* ok. I am a worrywart, I know, but I just have nothing to *compare* her to, to know what normal is.

Here are some pics taken a couple minutes ago:














Pat


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## aggieterpkatie

ACK!!   SO CUTE!!!


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## Royd Wood

Pleased for you Pat and the lamb has fed fine, I can tell off the photo - head up happy lamb expression and ears back


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## nsanywhere

DARLING!!! There's nothing like a baby lamb 

Congratulations!


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## puredelite

So glad that you finally have you a lamb, bet Peacey's  sister will probably soon surprise you as well. They do seem to like to wait til the weather takes a turn for the worse! I have heard that a low pressure system for some reason causes births to happen. Last week I had about 7 ewes lamb in two days, weather had just turned cold and snowy. You would do well to keep a bottle of sheep "Nutri-Drench" on hand. It really gives new-borns a jump start, great for weak, cold lambs as it gives them the energy to get up and search for that teat.


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## ksalvagno

Very cute! Congratulations! 

Hopefully your other girl will go soon.


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## kooltex

AWE!! Cute Pic! Such a cutie pie mamma and baby.


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