Help me determine is my sheep have started “showing” in their pregnancies

[MMGardens]

I need some advice


my ewe that lambed has lost a lot of weight
I’m feeding straight alfalfa hay, and have been letting them on a little pasture with radish, turnips, clover, rape, peas, wheat, and oats twice a day


I also have been milking her as that was one of my main intentions with having sheep


She had a single and I’ve been mindful of not making her produce way too much, so I’ve been getting maybe 4 oz per milking twice a day (once I got 8 oz but only that time) she lambed on 11/16


This morning when I went to milk her I also checked her body condition and famacha and noticed she was shivering and bony (it’s the coldest it’s been here today, but in the 40’s F nothing crazy

Famacha wasn’t terrific but also not pale, but I got them from a herd who doesn’t deworm at all, so they seem to be pretty resistant stock so I didn’t intend on deworming unless there was an issue. (I will bring a fecal on her though)


I’ve also been putting a bowl of alfalfa pellets in front of her when I milk her for her to eat but she’s been to concerned with watching her baby to do much eating


I didn’t milk her today and intend to stop as long as she doesn’t seem overly engorged by this evening, but either way just until she’s got milk for just her baby


She’s a really good mama, and I haven’t seen a ewe as a mom before, but she almost seemed entirely too protective and too vigilant. I don’t think she’s eating because she’s too busy watching for danger constantly. She goes and stomps at and rams my LGD’s that previously always hung out right by the flock and now she won’t tolerate them at all. Everybody else is at the hay rack eating and she’s just staring around at every noise and takes a mouthful every now and then


Currently I’m watching her baaa really loudly for her baby who’s asleep under the hay rack right in front of her


What do I do? Should I separate her with just her baby and lots of hay? I don’t usually do grain, but I’m willing to if she needs it

 

[Mini Horses]

Worms bloom at lambing/kidding. If you didn't deworm just before lambing, she probably needs it. Also, increase her feed over next 5 days...feed away from any others so she gets the feed she needs. Pen her to eat.

Making milk takes far more nutrition than growing a fetus. Way more. So, don't over feed but she's not getting enough calories. Concentrates 2x a day, free choice hay 24/7.

 

[Baymule]

It’s called jugging. A small pen for mom and baby gives them time to bond, makes the mom feel more secure and provides you opportunity to feed her the extra she may need. She is very protective and nervous right now. Put her in a small pen so she can feel safe.

 

[Mini Horses]

How's the ewe & lamb doing?

 

[MMGardens]

It’s called jugging. A small pen for mom and baby gives them time to bond, makes the mom feel more secure and provides you opportunity to feed her the extra she may need. She is very protective and nervous right now. Put her in a small pen so she can feel safe.

I did end up catching her and putting her in a little pen until the lamb was a little over a week and then she started acting normal again. Still very protective, but she wasn’t feeding herself before and now she’s back to butting the others out of the way for food. She’s also realized that when I put out new hay and everybody is fighting over it I secretly put a bowl of feed to the side for her and she goes and eats that just for her.

She’s tolerating the dogs much better now too, but her baby is going to give her grey hairs. She’s WILLDDDD. always running ahead of the herd while her mom rushes to catch up, when the dogs run towards noises barking she takes off running with them, she runs up and down hills and jumps off as fast as she can. I can tell that mama would be pulling her hair out if she could

 

[MMGardens]

How's the ewe & lamb doing?

Great! I got to quit milking the mom after a few days of just making sure she wasn’t engorged (she was losing weight so I didn’t want to keep making her produce more)

Baby is strong and healthy and already nibbling at everything, and has stayed quite friendly. She loves to have scratches from the humans

Here’s a silly picture of her little teeth growing in lol



Just waiting for the next two to drop now, they both look pretty close not sure who will be next

 

[Baymule]

Lambs run and play. That’s what they do best. As long as mom can see them, it’s all good. Too far away or out of sight and the worried chase is on.
Enjoy your lamb, they grow up way too fast.

 

[SageHill]

Lamb races! One of the best things about having lambs!!!

 

[MMGardens]

We had a sad loss this morning. Clara, my yearling ewe seems to have delivered sometime overnight. I checked the sheep around 4 this morning and they were all in the usually sleeping spots and it was still really dark so I left it at that. When it was light out I went to check again and noticed she had dried blood all down her udder and legs, but I didn’t see a baby and she wasn’t acting like she had a baby, but her belly was gone. We searched everywhere on our property and all we could find was a spot with blood and mucus that looked like she might have delivered there. Upon closer inspection we found a few tiny tufts of bloody white hair and maybe a few chips of bloody bone. It was rather cold here last night in the 30’s, so I think maybe being her first time she may have not cared for the baby and it died from the cold and then a predator came and got the body. I don’t think it was alive because if it had cried my dogs would’ve gone running back there.


I didn’t expect her to deliver very soon, so I didn’t have her locked up



I’m going to pen the pregnant ewes that are close nightly now, but man we are so very saddened to lose the baby at the cost of a hard lesson

 

[Finnie]

Maybe she delivered prematurely and there was nothing you could have done about it.