update, good ending :) (pregnant ewe off feed... need advice)

[Spidey]

thank you all again for the quick help and knowledge!

This morning she was behaving 100% normal. I gave her apple slices, alfalfa pellets drizzled with molasses and loaded up the feeder with alfalfa. She's bright eyed and energetic (as much as a fat pregnant sheep can be!). A bit later I had my coffee with them and offered her crackers and more pellets. I’ll keep visiting her and giving her treats and keeping her topped up. They’ve learned that I show up every few hours with treats, so the entire crew hasn't left the barn in days, so rest shouldn’t be a problem for her. Our climate is temperate rainforest and it rarely goes below freezing at night... we just have lots of rain, and mud. We're trying to decide if we should remove the ram (perhaps permanently, as sausage)... he's been chasing the girls around a little too much and he has become badly behaved when I enter the pen. I think with him gone, it'll create more peace within the barn.

I will look for breeding ewe nut rolls or something similar! I bet she'd love them!

Sheepshape, thats good to know that I need to keep her topped up even after lambing. She's never had this problem before, and I'm not sure what changed this year. I do wonder if the morning with the foamy vomit, she choked on something, or ate something poisonous that made her feel ill, and experienced a period of fasting which set her off metabolically? Or perhaps this is the year of the triplets? She has always had twins.

 

[Sheepshape]

It takes very little to cause 'Twin Lamb' disease in some animals. A day or two with them off their food for any reason and ....Wham....ketosis.
If her food requirements are high now, they will be even higher she is producing rich (fatty) milk. I always use ewe nuts for the first 4-6 weeks after lambing for that reason (grass growth over here is pretty poor until mid-April)
I've got a couple of pregnant skinny ewes which will need watching. However, as they both eat like horses, they probably are just naturally thin.
Your ewe looks as though she is quite slim,Spidey, and may have 'dropped'. Do you know when she is due? If not, how advanced is her udder development?
Although the ram is unlikely to do any harm to anyone, if he's pestering the ewes, he would probably be better as 'the Absent Father'.
It's probably a good idea to isolate this ewe, unless you don't mind them all 'snacking'.
So, all's going well. I suspect those ewes who don't do well with 'Twin Lamb disease' are mainly those who are spotted late,or may be one of a large flock or of several affected animals and don't get individual management, therefore slipping back into ketosis.If they can get this individual care, they can do well. The alternative is that all may die, so it's worth the time and effort 9also very rewarding when you get a healthy ewe with healthy lambs!).
Keep up the good work.

 

[Spidey]

She's still looking 100% happy and healthy today- eating well and anxiously waiting for visits and snacks.

I don't think she's due until Feb 9th-ish (based on when I actually saw the ram breed her), but it could be as early as this weekend. Her udder has started to fill out a little (like 2 lemons). I'd be surprised if I saw babies this weekend... I'm thinking the 9th is more likely.

We've come up with a plan to build a ram pen alongside the barn. He'll still see the girls and can interact with them through a cattle panel, but he'll be safely penned up if I need to assist. This is a new barn for us so we're still trying to work out the kinks.

I agree with what you've said about many people spotting ewes with twin lamb disease late. It could have easily happened to me- some mornings I have little time and I rush into the barn, toss hay into the feeder, and run out. That morning I hung around and saw that she wasn't actually eating at the feeder. Sheep are good at acting normal even if they are quite sick.

 

[Sheepshape]

Sheep are good at acting normal even if they are quite sick.

Prey species always do....they're nearly dead before they let you know.

Great to hear she's doing well and plenty of time to make sure she's in good condition for lambing.

 

[Spidey]

UPDATE!

Last I updated, everything seemed 100% normal with her, but I kept visiting 3x per day to offer alfalfa pellets and apple slices. We also switched her loose minerals to a molasses mineral protein tub. She continued looking great, with no symptoms of pregnancy toxemia at all.

She FINALLY had her twins today. Everything went smoothly and my daughter (she's 9) and I got lucky and were in the barn when she was close to delivery so we were able to stay and watch

 

[Mike CHS]

Congratulations and thanks for the update. It looks like she had them really close together.

 

[Baymule]

Congrats on the beautiful babies! Boy or girl?

 

[Spidey]

she did have them quite close together, and very easily! I'm glad she waited until after we shoveled a path to the barn- we had 2 feet of snow fall this week!

The little black and white one is a boy, and the solid white one (or "pink colored lamb" according to my son) is a girl. The paternal grandfather of these 2 is a Jacob, so the boy looks more like a Jacob in his markings and mom here is a St Croix.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Awsome , congratulations

 

[Mini Horses]

Love the great outcome! Great job