# Udder trouble?



## Tuesday (Mar 17, 2013)

Hi,

I'm new to raising sheep and I bought 4 Katahdin ewes that are due anytime. Yesterday, one of them was acting like she might be going into labor at least I thought. She wasn't eating much of her grain, was not her friendly self, not leaving the stall, etc. End of the day came and went and no lambs, so I called the vet and he advised me to check to see if I could feel if there was a lamb stuck. I did and all I felt was probably the water bag in the uterus. Today still nothing but still some of the odd behavior although, she is eating.  

Today, however I noticed her udders looked odd one was much larger and rubbing her leg when she walked making it red.

Here's my question can a ewe have mastitis before lambing? And does this sound like it's normal for her udder to look this way before lambing?   

I really appreciate any advise. My husband thinks I'm being a worry wart but I don't want to wait if there's a problem.

Thanks.


----------



## SheepGirl (Mar 17, 2013)

Her udder large enough to rub against her leg to make it red sounds like she is within a couple days of lambing. She might've had mastitis last year and lost half of her udder. How old is she and has she ever lambed before?


----------



## Tuesday (Mar 17, 2013)

She is 9 yrs old and has lambed every year with no problems- so I was told. Her bag is still lopsided today. If she has twins will she be able to nurse both of them if she did have mastitis at one time? Thank you very much for your input, I appreciate it.


----------



## Tuesday (Mar 19, 2013)

Well my vet's office happened to call and said they set me up on the online pharmacy but the vet needed to see at least one of my animals before I could buy anything on it. ( I'm guessing that's normal) So I decided to have him come out now and have a look at my ewe and see if there is something I need to do for her. So I'll keep you posted.


----------



## aggieterpkatie (Mar 19, 2013)

I knew a ewe once who would bag up so big and tight she'd get raw on her udder from it rubbing her legs. Ugh, it was painful to look at.  Luckily I don't think that's very common.  Hopefully your ewe is ok and the vet will have good news.  Good luck!


----------



## Tuesday (Mar 19, 2013)

She had three adorable lambs that I found this morning. Unfortunately, one half of her bag is shot I'm having trouble getting the babies on the other side because it is so low they are not finding it. I've been milking her and bottle feeding them. The vet was able to get one of them nursing but the baby girl I'm having a hard time getting her to attach to her mom or take the bottle very well. I'm being told that since I want to keep the ewe she's the one that should stay on the mother. She's looking for it but when I try to put the mom's teat in her mouth she isn't doing anything. 

Any advise on how to proceed would be great. Should I bring the bottle babies inside or leave them with mom for now? My vet said he would let them go all night with out feeding but that doesn't sound right to me- so now my husband is going to think I'm going overboard feeding around the clock? do you guys feed around the clock and if so for how long?

Thanks in advance for any advice. They are toooooo cute!


----------



## purplequeenvt (Mar 19, 2013)

I have never fed through the night. I would leave the other babies with mom, but still bottle feed them. She will keep them warm and protect them even if you are the one providing the food. One of the best (ie. least obnoxious) bottle lambs I had was from an old ewe that had no milk. I left the baby with mom, but brought her a bottle 3X a day.

You do know that we are all going to want pictures, right???


----------



## SheepGirl (Mar 19, 2013)

Tuesday said:
			
		

> She had three adorable lambs that I found this morning. Unfortunately, one half of her bag is shot I'm having trouble getting the babies on the other side because it is so low they are not finding it. I've been milking her and bottle feeding them. The vet was able to get one of them nursing but the baby girl I'm having a hard time getting her to attach to her mom or take the bottle very well. I'm being told that since I want to keep the ewe she's the one that should stay on the mother. She's looking for it but when I try to put the mom's teat in her mouth she isn't doing anything.
> 
> Any advise on how to proceed would be great. Should I bring the bottle babies inside or leave them with mom for now? My vet said he would let them go all night with out feeding but that doesn't sound right to me- so now my husband is going to think I'm going overboard feeding around the clock? do you guys feed around the clock and if so for how long?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any advice. They are toooooo cute!


This year, my ewe's teats were really big & low to the ground (due to them being long and her udder being FILLED with milk). Babies had a hard time finding the teats because the ends were a lot lower than they thought they should be. So they only nursed 2x/day (yes, even when they were newborns). I would hold the teat for both of them (she had trips, but one froze in the snow) and let them nurse until their bellies were visually full (before they were sunken in). Usually about 1-2 minutes. If her udder is raw from her rubbing against it, she probably has a large enough udder that she can feed two lambs, maybe even three. Eventually the lambs will learn to look lower for the teats (mine took 4-5 days) and because of that the ewe's udder will shrink up, but she still has enough milk to feed everyone. Also if you want to increase her milk production, give her more feed (high quality hay or grain).


----------



## Tuesday (Mar 20, 2013)

Thanks for the help. The vet told me to start supplementing with milk replacer today but they seem active and happy, and the little girl finally has nursing down pat. Yeah so I think I'll take you're advice and see if momma can handle feeding them herself at least for a while. I bought goat milk replacement in case I need it because no one around here sells it specifically for lambs. Should I order some from Land O Lakes online ($50+ with shipping-Ouch)  or will the goat replacement work fine?


I was told by someone I could leave them all with the mom and just give supplement a couple of them but is there a chance they could over eat getting by getting it from mom too and then the third one that was just getting milk still might not have enough. Has any one tried this?

How do you send pics on here? Thanks for all the advice. I have my biggest mamma in labor now. What a week!


----------



## purplequeenvt (Mar 20, 2013)

You definitely want lamb milk replacer over goat MR. 

Last year we had a set of triplets that needed a little extra help. They did ok, but not great. It was partially our fault though. We had another bottle baby and, when we'd bring out his milk, we'd also bring extra for the other boys. Sometimes they took the bottle, sometimes they didn't. They still nursed off mom (and whoever else they could corner), but I think they would have done a lot better if we had pushed the bottle.


----------



## Tuesday (Mar 20, 2013)

Another set of triplets! And another one going into labor- this is brutal!


----------



## CritterZone (Mar 21, 2013)

Last year we bought three bred ewes - mostly because when we went to look at them, they were in such poor condition that we couldn't NOT buy them.  All three ewes were over 5, heavily pregnant, and so thin you could see their spine, hip bones and shoulder blades under 5 inches of really poor wool.  Anyhow, one of the ewes had twins two days after we brought her home, and she was a caring mom, but no milk.  We left the babies with her, and just fed them three or four time a day until they were about 4 weeks old.  I think having the ewe raise the babies is best for them, even if they need a little extra support from us.  This same ewe lambed twins again this year, and at first her udder was lopsided and she didn't seem to be giving any milk.  We got some colostrum and resigned ourselves to bottle feeding.  The following morning, we went out of find happy babies with fat bellies and they are doing well now, 1 week later.


----------



## Tuesday (Mar 22, 2013)

That's good to here. Both of my ewes that had triplets are only producing milk in half thier udder as luck would have it. So I'm supplementing three of the rams and are they pigs! (Don't worry I know not to overfeed). But they all seem to be doing well I just hope the piggy boys aren't getting bottles and then drinking their share of mama's milk too. 

That's great you saved those starving pregnantewes!


----------



## Four Winds Ranch (Mar 22, 2013)

Udder issues are definatly a worry when getting older ewes!
Good luck with you little lambs!  
Also good luck with the up and coming ones!!!  
Can't wait for pics!!!!


----------

