# Pregnant ewe Losing Colostrum



## Sheepshape (Feb 18, 2017)

Myrtle is a 5 year old ewe who has tooth issues, so has been kept indoors for the last 4 weeks to ensure that she gets enough food as she is pregnant with twins.

The earliest date that she should produce lambs is 15th March (dated by when the ram was first in the field +147 days). At a push, if she delivered at 140 days, then around about 8th March if she were mated on the day of the ram going in her field.

She is very slim, but her belly has begun to fill out in the last week or so. Also over the last week her udder has developed rapidly. She is well and eating ewe nuts/treats/ewe lick etc.

Today I saw a stream of colostrum/milk which had escaped from one of her teats in the position where she had been lying down. Her udder was huge and congested and some milk/colstrum was dripping from both teats. Her vulva is not swollen, no signs of blood or discharge. 

She seemed to be in some distress from her udder, so I gave her Metacam and gently milked off about 100mls from each side with great ease. (I would never normally take colostrum from a ewe who has not delivered, but her pain/congestion was obviously significant and she was dripping from both teats in any case.

I spoke to my neighbour....life-long sheep farmer of thousands of ewes. His initial thoughts were that she may have lambed and the foetuses were very small. As she has been in a confined area indoors which I clean daily, a thorough search of the area confirmed no birth had taken place. He examined her and confirmed she has lambs 'on board' still, and that loss of such large amounts of colostrum/milk was very strange.

Well, I'm baffled. I've never seen so much milk coming from a ewe who should have over 3 weeks, at least to go. Have her lambs died? What is going on hormonally? Will she deliver very soon?

I'll go and take some pics. (and say a little prayer for her).


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## Goat Whisperer (Feb 18, 2017)

I know nothing about sheep, but with dairy goats that can happen and it's not a huge deal. If she were one of my goats, I'd milk enough to give some relief and freeze it. Once the lambs/kids are born give them some of the frozen colostrum. 

Have you tried some soaked beet pulp for the ewe? Might be able to get some weight on her. 

Watch her closely for toxemia too.


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## purplequeenvt (Feb 18, 2017)

I had a ewe develop a huge udder (milk included) a good 3 weeks prior to delivery this year. Doesn't sounds a big as your ewe's udder though. No chance she was caught earlier then planned?


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## Sheepshape (Feb 18, 2017)

purplequeenvt said:


> No chance she was caught earlier then planned?


 I'm beginning to think that this is what must have happened. 

She looks very thin to be term with twins.




 



 

 

 

 

 

Took this pic and realised....there is a little blood on her udder. Hopefully she has started, though I don't have good feelings about this labour.



 

She's wandering around...not looking distressed.

I'll take a little more colostrum/milk off her soon (just enough to make her comfortable) and then ....well, just say another little prayer for her (and watch her closely).


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## Sheepshape (Feb 18, 2017)

Goat Whisperer....I'm doing just as you said with the colostrum. I took off a hundred or so mls from each side and froze that down earlier today. I'm planning to take  a little more soon.

Myrtle has broken teeth and cannot handle silage, so has been having ewe nuts,grain, biscuits, bread etc for a month now. She has fattened up a bit and has a tremendous appetite, so she probably isn't in too bad a shap[e to face her labour. I'm just hoping the labour and lambs are normal. If she has live twin lambs I'll take one from her and bottle feed it.


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## Goat Whisperer (Feb 18, 2017)

@Sheepshape, the beet pulp I feed are tiny, tiny shreds. When soaked it's like mush. Very different than silage  
Either way, if she is looking better keep doing what you are doing


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## sonorabitandspur (Feb 18, 2017)

We used to do this same thing with one of our ewes, she was a terrible mama and if you didn't catch her before she got up from delivery she would try to stomp the lambs. She too acted like she was over burdened in the udder, it was years ago and I can't recall but I think she had her lambs earlier than we thought she should have. We froze quite a bit of colostrum that way and when the lambs were born we had plenty to feed them. Sounds to me like your doing just right! After that experience we routinely milked off a little colostrum and kept it frozen, came in handy more than once.


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## sonorabitandspur (Feb 18, 2017)

Let us know how this turns out but I suspect your going to have lambs real soon! Hope and pray for a good outcome!
(We find ourselves praying for animals too! Lol! Had a mare who was very sick, I thought she would be dead before the vet could see her three or four days later. She made it and on top of that she pulled through. She is fat and sassy as ever! Don't give up and "pray without ceasing!")


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## Sheepshape (Feb 19, 2017)

Goat Whisperer....I think I know the stuff....we have 'beet pellets' over here (essentially shredded and partly dried sugar beet)...a high energy source. I've been feeding Myrtle 'breeding ewe nuts'....18% protein and designed to be fed in the last 6weeks or so of pregnancy and during lactation when the ewe isn't able to physically eat enough pasture-based food to provide enough protein/calories etc. My other ewes get either 1lb (singletons) or 2lbs (multiples) daily in two rations.Myrtle and another sick ewe have free access to these, plus grain, bread, biscuits , ewe lick etc etc (thoroughly spoiled) They take a long time to eat, but there's no competition and they are protected from the elements in the barn.


sonorabitandspur....at least Myrtle is a great mama if previous years are anything to go by. Myrtle has a daughter, Tuesday, and I hope she will be as good a mum when she has her 'ram visit' next year. (Just as a rather silly 'aside' and an explanation of their names Myrtle has a weird (Murrrr) sound for a bleat and Tuesday was born on a Tuesday).

 I've just checked Myrtle again (early morning here) and she is sitting quietly chewing. Nothing else has happened.  Last night there was very little 'free' colostrum, probably due to the earlier anti-inflammatory, and she seemed very comfortable, so I didn't milk her.

I wonder what today will bring?


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## mysunwolf (Feb 19, 2017)

Just some thoughts: maybe you could feed Myrtle a higher energy, lower protein feed? That will slow down her milk production a little, but still allow her to maintain her weight. Then you can up the protein again once she's lactating. Our standard "sweet feed" (processed grains) maintenance ration for lambs and dry ewes is 12-14% protein and the one for lactating ewes is 16%, so that is why 18% seems high to me. You could even keep the same feed but replace it partially with cracked corn or another high energy feed.


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## Sheepshape (Feb 19, 2017)

mysunwolf said:


> Just some thoughts: maybe you could feed Myrtle a higher energy, lower protein feed? That will slow down her milk production a little, but still allow her to maintain her weight. Then you can up the protein again once she's lactating. Our standard "sweet feed" (processed grains) maintenance ration for lambs and dry ewes is 12-14% protein and the one for lactating ewes is 16%, so that is why 18% seems high to me. You could even keep the same feed but replace it partially with cracked corn or another high energy feed.



Good point,mysunwolf. She probably is reducing the protein content of her intake already as she is taking grain, bread and biscuits. Her appetite has suddenly become huge, presumably down to her metabolic needs. I took some milk off her again this morning and plan to take a little off her again tonight (just enough to stop her leaking). I've collected all the milk in a clean jug and have frozen them down. The way we're going my freezer will be nothing but jars of frozen milk....I'll start labelling them up to make sure that I can separate the early stuff from the later.


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## sonorabitandspur (Feb 19, 2017)

Thanks for sharing, when we were into raising sheep there were not alot of products around like you are talking about. I am learning a few things from this tread. Thank you all so much. We fed hay and sometimes when needed a ration of grain. There were not alot of pelleted feeds.


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## Latestarter (Feb 20, 2017)

Good luck with your ewe! Hope it all works out in the end.


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## Sheepshape (Feb 21, 2017)

Thank you,Latestarter. 

I took about 400mls from her yesterday (just enough to prevent her leaking). She was not herself at all yesterday, lying down for much of the day. I felt her belly, but wasn't convinced of contractions and her vulva wasn't red or puffy. It's very early morning here and I'm just about to check her again.

Meanwhile the 'tail end' of lambing has definitely kicked off with another ewe who was scanned and showed an abnormal pregnancy plus a relatively normal foetus lost her normal looking foetus yesterday and is now trailing a weird black lump. Sharon (the ewe in question) has been indoors with Myrtle for the last 5 weeks as she has been generally unwell and feeding poorly.

I look forward to seeing (hopefully) some good,healthy lambs soon.


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## mysunwolf (Feb 21, 2017)

Hope you get some healthy lambs soon too!  And hope Myrtle recovers, she has us all worried.


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## Latestarter (Feb 22, 2017)

I believe @purplequeenvt started off her lambing season with several losses that seemed rather abnormal to me. So sorry you're having multiple issues as well. I sure hope you find the two you have now to be the only ones and the rest are all healthy births.


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## Sheepshape (Feb 23, 2017)

It's pretty usual (though sad) to have abnormal pregnancies both at the start and at the end of lambing. At least it had been recognised that there were problems with these girls. The outcome probably hasn't changed, but they have had all possible care.

Currently Myrtle is still producing copious amounts of milk and seems 'out of sorts', but hasn't lambed. I am not very optimistic for the outcome off the lambing. In reality I should probably have not kept Myrtle, but she is something of an enduring favourite.Last year she had twin lamb disease due to her inability to digest silage and her retiring nature around the feeding areas.After placing her in the shed last year and making sure she ate, she successfully produced two good sized lambs and fed one of them (the other was bottle fed). throughout the summer she thrived and is now scanned as for carrying twins, though goodness knows if they are dead or alive. Experienced sheep farmers and the vet all say that producing milk in these amounts prior to lamb is very odd, but no other course of action apart from making sure she has constant access to food and keeping her warm and dry have been suggested. One neighbour,a 70 something lifelong sheep farmer, said not to milk her, but this only led to very large puddles of her precious milk on the floor).

So, we continue, though I think getting Myrtle through this pregnancy and having live lambs seems an outside possibility. if this minor miracle happens, I'll probably still keep her until she shows signs of not being able to maintain her own nutrition but keep her along with my 'retired' teenager, Longface.


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## Sheepshape (Mar 13, 2017)

Just an update. Myrtle is still producing large amounts of milk and still hasn't lambed. Some of her milk is being used on a triplet  birth bottle baby.

My freezer was full, so I made cheese with some of it......yes,a sort of feta, I guess.

I'll be glad, though, when she does get rid of the contents of her womb.


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