# ewe seemingly not cycling, how do I know if she got pregnant in Sept.?



## patandchickens (Nov 22, 2010)

There may be no good answer to this but I'm going to ask anyway just in case 

I put my ram in with the two dairybred ewelambs and the 2 yr old shetland ewe on Nov 1. I've kept his chest slathered with marker crayon, first yellow now green, so I can see what he's bin doin'. The dairybred ewelambs were marked on Nov 1 and 8 (respectively), and I think the Nov 1 one may be coming back in season today but it remains to be seen whether she gets marked. Anyhow, my point is, at least THEY seem to be cycling and getting mounted by the ram.

But the 2 yr old shetland ewe, admittedly her fleece is dark so it'd be harder to see the marker crayon but I have been looking *real hard* and no sign of it, plus I have not seen her or the ram displaying ANY interest whatsoever in each other.

It is not 100% out of the question that she could have been bred back in September, either thru the fence or the couple times she got loose (although AFAIK she was always on the other side of a well-charged electric fence from the ram when she was loose).

Is there something that I could look at, or poke and prod, or whatever, to get a sense of whether she is not cycling on account of already HAVING a bun in the oven?

(If I'm going to have a February lamb, I need to prepare in advance, as it is still pretty darn cold here then)

Also feel free to think fertile thoughts for the dairybreds, who had darn well BETTER catch and lamb, since the whole point of them is to be able to milk them next spring 

Thanks for any suggestions (even if it's "tough luck, just wait and see"),

Pat


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## aggieterpkatie (Nov 22, 2010)

I wish I had a better answer for you, but I'd say just wait and see.    It is extremely frustrating not knowing if they're bred or cycling.  You could always draw blood and send it to Biotracking (can you do that if you're in Canada?).  If not, I'd just keep waiting and seeing.  Was the ram in at all before you put the crayon on him?  If so, maybe he marked her early.


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## patandchickens (Nov 22, 2010)

Nope, I put the marker on the ram just *before* I turned him in with the girls, and also I have seen zero amorous activity between those two (as opposed to when the two dairybreds were in heat, it was real obvious what was going on, very educational for the children <g>)

Can a blood sample estimate *how* pregnant a ewe is, or is it just yes/no? 

Pat


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## abooth (Nov 23, 2010)

Pat, my understanding is the blood test is most accurate at 75 to 90 days gestation at that point it may not be worth it because you may have already figured it out on your own. I have a ewe and ram that live together so my plan is to just keep a close eye on the ewe in late winter early spring.


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## aggieterpkatie (Nov 23, 2010)

You can preg test (blood sample) as early as 20 days post breeding.  It doesn't tell you how far along though, you'd have to time it after each breeding.  For example, if you saw her breed on 11/1 and you think she might have been in heat again on 1/18, you could send in a test on 11/20 and if it comes back positive she bred on 11/1.  Of course if she did settle the first time she probably wouldn't come into heat again.  Sometimes they can confuse you (general "you") though.  The doppler kind of test is best done at 75-90 days into gestation because a certain amount of amniotic fluid is needed to register on the ultra sound.


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## patandchickens (Nov 23, 2010)

> Sometimes they can confuse you (general "you") though.


LOL, if you were talking about me *specifically*, the correct phrasing would be "_All the time_ they confuse you" 

I may ask my vet about the blood test, but if it costs much at all to do it here in Canada I will probably skip it as things are a bit tight right now. I wouldn't trust my vet to do a pg ultrasound, he is bad enough with horses, totally useless with sheep  (Cows, I'm told, he's ok on)

I suppose I'll probably end up just spending the months of Feb and March staring obsessively at this ewe's udder trying to discern whether she's bagging up at all  (And then, watch, it'll turn out that NOBODY got pregnant this year, with my luck!)

Thanks,

Pat


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## aggieterpkatie (Nov 23, 2010)

patandchickens said:
			
		

> > Sometimes they can confuse you (general "you") though.
> 
> 
> LOL, if you were talking about me *specifically*, the correct phrasing would be "_All the time_ they confuse you"
> ...


Can you send to Biotracking?  If so, you should forget the vet and do it yourself!


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