Helping to dry up milk?

[TexasShepherdess]

I weaned all my lambs this past weekend and the one ewe with Twins is not very comfortable....her bag is still largish and she just looks uncomfortable..is there anything (RX or otherwise) that I can buy/ask my vet for that will help dry up her milk? she is obviously on the "bland" diet to help with this..but Id like to help her.

 

[boykin2010]

I hope someone comes along to answer this because I was just about to post the same question.

 

[SheepGirl]

There is nothing that I know of. Just keep feeding her low-quality feeds and she should dry up sooner than later

 

[TexasShepherdess]

I just feel so bad for her..Never had issues with my horses or cattle..I watched her attempt to lay down three times..she'd get half way down, with her rear in the air...you could tell it was uncomfortable for the poor girl..

 

[Hillsvale]

how did this go, I have a ewe that had twins... one rejected and bottle fed. Last weekend we sold the lamb that was still nursing (I thought just a bit) but now the ewe has a full udder and is resistant to intervention...

 

[Remuda1]

The best luck I've had so far is to put them on basically NO additional feed other than pasture. If you still got lush pasture, I'd pen her and go with kind of poorly grass hay only and probably not free choice. Mine have taken as little as a couple of days of this to start having visible results. Once they start shrinking, it hasnt taken long to dry up. I've had a couple that I weaned twins off of both at one time. Those girls really blow up.

 

[secuono]

You can milk her, use the milk or dump it.

 

[feed grass]

You can milk her, use the milk or dump it.

not usually very good advice. All you are doing is opening up the channels- to allow for bacteria to get in, and cause mastitis--- if it's not already there.

Don't turn the babies back in to suck her out either-- will do the same thing.

The best thing to do when weaning is plan ahead-- take the grain completely away for 2 weeks prior to weaning, and give poor hay, or just pasture.

You should never turn ewes that have been weaned- out to pasture at weaning-- especially not fresh/ lush pasture.

I always without water for 12 hours from my ewes, unless they are hard milkers- in that case go a full day.

Give the ewes about 2 days, and check their udders for hardness- this indicates mastitis is coming-- and treat it ASAP. After 3 or 4 days, the udders should start to go down- after a month-- they'll be non-existent on young ewes or those with smaller udders.

 

[BrownSheep]

We actually staggered the weaning on a ewe with triplets. We removed two left one with her for week or so.

 

[feed grass]

We actually staggered the weaning on a ewe with triplets. We removed two left one with her for week or so.

I've seen cases where people do this with twins-- and it turns disaster. Most of my lambs only nurse from one side-- never switching. I see this most often when I lose a lamb that is a month or so old... the other side will swell up like a balloon... Singles nurse both sides, but for some reason-- twins will only nurse from one side far more times than they'll switch sides...