She ate a bit of dinner, but on the whole she's exhausted. Hoping she can have an uneventful night. More and more, I don't know... I don't know anything.
The Vet is very well respected in the sheep and goat community. His first instinct was that the lambs aren't fully ready to come out yet...
That's the question. The vet isn't sure. She's not pushing as hard as he would expect. He has more experience than I do, but from my point of view, she was pushing much harder earlier.
Because we can't feel the lambs on the other side of the cervix, it could be that she's not actually...
I know in Canada drugs and livestock are tricky. A lot of drugs approved in other countries aren't approved for use here. Sheep and goats aren't considered high enough priority or economically valuable enough for the government to make their meds a priority. Sometimes the vet can use the drug...
Thanks guys for your replies. I just came back from taking her to the vet. He's open now, and was able to fit us in for an emergency appointment.
She is very close. Don't know her exact due date, as we don't know when the ram did his duty. Her lamb hole is lovely and large, her udders have...
Please help. Vet is closed and I'm not sure if I should get involved or let the ewe keep going on her own. I'm in tears with worry.
3 year old, black welsh mountain ewe, her name is Mini. This is her second year.
This is my third year lambing, second year lambing on my own. I have a lot...
@The Old Ram-Australia
Good to hear. I'm very interested in trying her free access mineral style with my heritage flock. They seem much smarter than my meat flock and they are all breeds that have a very high tolerance for copper. I already have to give them some extra copper as their needs...
Thank you all for the good thoughts.
Went into full labour about an hour and a half ago. She was in a great deal of pain, screaming. She managed two front feet and a nose, but couldn't go any further. Head too big (again!).
Pushed and pulled, got kicked for my effort. This ewe is not...
Well, that didn't go so well. My foot isn't working right but if I don't move my toes, I can see through the pain, so that's good at least. May be a visit to the ER later tonight, once the ewe is better.
The ewe also snuck out of the jug in the confusion. She's the most wild, opinionated...
Black welsh mountain, 2 years old, hay and pasture, regular minerals, &c. First time pregnant.
She's very pregnant, past when I thought she would pop. She's been acting like she's at the start of labour for at least three days. Big nipples, enlarged lamb hole. She did some mild pushing and...
Very interesting thoughts and thread.
My person opinion is that it depends a lot on the kind of sheep. The breeds developed after circa 1730s, are bred for their wool to be easily processed by the new mechanical devices, and a different kind of style of sheep keeping. The focus post 18th...
I'm not certain if I should admit this or not, given that the internet is forever. But if I want to know what the problem is, I have to be honest about what I feed them.
If anything my hay is a bit under-nourished.
To start with, the hay in our area is extremely poor. The mineral profile in...
That's good to know about supplements for first timers.
Just wondering, by supplements do you mean the grain or the minerals?
This is how I've been doing it so far:
The grain I give about the last month of pregnancy until the lambs are weaned and the ewes are obviously gaining their weight...
Took her to the vet today.
Sprain is most likely, he agrees the hoof looks perfect. Slight clogging of the between the toe goo factory, but obviously not the cause of the limp.
Udder is infected where the lambs bit, but caught it early. Ewe is running a fever. Antibiotics for the...
Now that I've got the lambs off her, I see some bites on her udder that don't look good. I'm taking her to the vet for an exam tomorrow.
I think it's a bunch of little things tumbling along, big lambs, twisted ankle, possibly leaving her open to parasites, bite marks from the lambs...
Lambs...
Thank you. Done.
Had to carry them to the other pasture, but they haven't complained yet about the move. One lamb is right at the maximum I can lift, well over 60 pounds. The other one is still around 50, but he was always smaller. Mum isn't complaining either.
No swelling at the joint. Only place on her whole body that shows swelling is her armpit on that one leg (leg-pit?). She's very gentle with me and let me go over her in great detail.
She's also shedding - I think it's the time of year for it, but it's a change, so I mention it.
What do you...
Poor little thing, she's still limping. Her hooves look absolutely textbook perfect. No heat. No smell. Her gland thing at the hoof is fine. She can walk fine sometimes, but other times, the leg won't hold her weight.
This flock is all in the smallest most level pasture right now in hopes...
Out of the four ewes who have 'hatched' so far this lambing season, I've had to assist 3 give birth. The problem being the lambs are far too big. Big head, big shoulders, and big overall.
Two of the ewes are first timers, so it's understandable that they may have trouble. But even still...
It passed while I was writing the last post. It looks normal-ish I guess. Normally the chickens get to it first, so I don't get to see it fresh like this. The worm like things were inside the afterbirth. You can see it in the top of the photo.
Weird because while it was coming out, it...