Bred ewes

[Maple_Lane_Lambs]

Last month we picked up 2 Dorset ewes that were bred in late January-early February (the person we bought them from was not sure the exact time they were bred).He said they should be due late June-early July. We think in the next 2 weeks we will have lambs. My sheep, Mabel, looks closer than my sisters sheep Gertie, but what do you think. Do they look earlier or later than 2 weeks? We are new to sheep and your help would be appreciated. This will be their 2nd lambing.

My girl, Mabel. She is very full under but her sides are not noticeable from the front and back. Could the lamb/s be siting under instead of the sides? Her udder has started developing but is still pretty flat. She has also been digging a hole that she often lays in. Is this a sign that she is haviing the lambs soon?
(See post after)


Next is Gertie. She decided to lay the mud before i took the pictures so she is pretty dirty.
Her back is a lot longer than Mabel's so I do not know if she looks smaller because the lambs have more room to move around? She has a medium sized udder but it is not filling up yet. She is definitely bigger at the sides than Mabel but not as deep on the underside.

How many weeks do you think until the lambs are born?
- Thanks! Maple Lane Lambs

 

[Maple_Lane_Lambs]

I'm not sure Mabel's pictures work. I'll post them again.
Update on Mabel- her udder is filling up and is sensitive when I touch it.

 

[Maple_Lane_Lambs]

Can any sheep people help me out? I would really like to know so we can have everything ready for when they come.I know it is pretty hard to tell because every ewe is different, but I would like to know a rough timeline.

 

[norseofcourse]

Congrats on your sheep! I've been through three lambing seasons, and so far I have learned that sheep can drive you nuts!

With my sheep, when their vulvas looked as puffy as your sheep's do, I would be expecting lambs within a few days to a week. But - that's my sheep, not necessarily yours. Mine were also pretty consistent about 'dropping' - a few days before the lambs are born, they shift lower in the ewe's body, and the ewe gets a hollowed-out look in front of each hipbone. I don't see that in yours, but it's hard to capture in pictures.

Pawing is one of the things they do when they are starting labor, but they also do it plenty of other times. In fact, all ewes have read the 'signs of labor' list and will randomly do many of them for weeks, even months, before having their lambs.

Does the person you got them from have a definite start and/or end date of when they were with the ram? Either date will help a bit, at least to give you a 'not before' or 'not after' timeframe. If you don't have that, my quite inexperienced guess is you're between one and four weeks away. What's in your lambing kit so far?

 

[Maple_Lane_Lambs]

Thank you for your reply! The person we got them from had these sheep and the ram with a bunch of other ewes at a friends place in a month time period and he did not tell us the exact date he put him in or took them out. He used a marking harness on his ram and Mabel only took 1 time to take, but Gertie took 2 tries.

Right now in my lambing kit i have bedadine/iodine, clean towels, halters for when we move them into lambing pens/jugs and a baby aspirator( in case of fluid) Do you think I will need anything else? What do you use?

I am so exited for the lambs. This will be our first animals born on our farm, besides kittens! I'm really hoping the lambs and the ewes will survive and be healthy by the end of lambing!I can't imagine what I would do without my girls!

I will post pics of the lambs and ewes when they are born!

 

[purplequeenvt]

If those were my sheep, I'd say they had at least another month to go.

 

[Maple_Lane_Lambs]

Oh really?! I thought that they looked closer than that. I wish I knew when they were actually bred!

The next time we breed them the person we bought them from offered to bring his purebred dorset show ram to our house. That way we can get the exact date they are bred. We are still deciding wether we are going to bred them for winter lambs or not. We live in Canada and it gets -25 to -30 often and we would hate for the lambs to die.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

Yeah, going by the udders they would have a ways yet to go. Right before lambing the udders really pop and look big and full on my sheep, even the first timers. The vulva also turns a darker pink, almost purple-y color.

You can drive yourself crazy trying to predict lambs! A marking harness and a few years of experience and you get pretty good about not spending weeks staring at sheep backsides.

 

[Maple_Lane_Lambs]

I have found that Mabel's udder is getting noticeably bigger than it is in the pictures and now she does not want me touching it. From looking at other peoples lambing threads and seeing the pictures of how big the udder and bellies are, I think I still have a while to wait.

 

[promiseacres]

When their teats are so full they are almost horizontal then they are close.