Weight/muscle gain

[Baymule]

Sneaky little diva!

 

[WolfeMomma]

Sneaky little diva!

Oh I know lol!!!!

 

[Ridgetop]

We have already lessend the amount of grain she is on, I am wondering if this is why she all the sudden has an uneven udder....maybe fat deposits.

Its not the feed. I just had the vet out. Im thinking our new ewe lamb was nursing on her we are going to cut her grain down, and try to dry her up.

If your yearling ewe was never bred she would be unlikely to allow a new flock member lamb to nurse her. Particularly since that lamb would be at least 2 months old. Is she actually producing milk in her udder? Some animals that will become heavy milkers develop "precocious udders" and milk before any pregnancy. Try to get some milk out and check it for mastitis since you want to clear that up asap before you breed her if she has somehow developed mastitis. On the other hand, is the "new lamb" you suspect of nursing her the 5 month old ram lamb? If so, she might be bred by now since rams are fertile and able to breed at 5 months old. To dry her up cut out all grain cold turkey. Reduce her water for 24 hours as well. If she is pregnant, her udder might becoming in and can come in slightly lopsided at first before she actually lambs.

? So only very young sheep can be shown? Over here (across the pond) we can show sheep pretty much at any age, though very old sheep are a rarity. There are lots of categories too, Yearling ewe/ram, Ewe with lamb at foot, Breeding ewe....aged 2 or over who has had a lamb or lambs in that year, Senior Ram...aged over 2 (a very popular category of big, muscular fellows),Trios (ram and 2 ewes) etc etc. Good to see the full range of sheep in their peak condition (shampooed, combed, trimmed with nail scissors, hooves polished(!) etc.) All halter trained and led out into the show ring with their heads held up high......not even the tiniest head butt to be seen (well, not too often anyway).

Yes, for some reason the majority of purebred sheep shows only allow showing of animals through yearlings. Occasionally you might find classes for flock, young flock, and other special classes. The young flock entrants are usually lambs and the flock classes are yearlings. Rare to have lambs at their sides. Occasionally there is a class for older "stud rams". At National breed shows they might have more classes of older sheep but rarely. Seems strange to me.

Dairy goats show forever - but many of their scores are also based on how well the animal will hold up for a long life of milk production. For some reason sheep cub do not want to how older sheep. I don't know why, since anyone can figure out that a good long lived production ewe is a greater asset to the sheep owner than a young one that looks good but falls apart after 3 seasons.

 

[WolfeMomma]

If your yearling ewe was never bred she would be unlikely to allow a new flock member lamb to nurse her. Particularly since that lamb would be at least 2 months old. Is she actually producing milk in her udder? Some animals that will become heavy milkers develop "precocious udders" and milk before any pregnancy. Try to get some milk out and check it for mastitis since you want to clear that up asap before you breed her if she has somehow developed mastitis. On the other hand, is the "new lamb" you suspect of nursing her the 5 month old ram lamb? If so, she might be bred by now since rams are fertile and able to breed at 5 months old. To dry her up cut out all grain cold turkey. Reduce her water for 24 hours as well. If she is pregnant, her udder might becoming in and can come in slightly lopsided at first before she actually lambs.

It's a ewe lamb that was trying to nurse. She does let her, she is a very sweet kind ewe that has taken to mothering this younger one. Our ram is kept separate behind multiple electric and steel fencing. She is NOT pregnant. The vet was out, the first thing she did was try to get milk out, which she did. It was normal milk , no sign of infection. She vet was not concerned at all, just recommended stopping grain. I don't want to reduce her water as we are expecting a heat wave this week.

 

[Ridgetop]

Most likely a precocious udder. Our first Toggenburg dairy goat developed a very pretty precocious udder at 10 months old! She was also our first goat so we were shocked to see an udder with milk in a virgin doe. When she eventually kidded and freshened she was a copious milker. Too bad that Togggenburg milk tastes so awful! We sold her to another 4-Her who wanted to show and feed calves.

I suggest you separate her from the younger lamb. Just a piece of stock panel dividing their pen will help. Also check some of the dairy goat suppliers to see if you can find something to put on her teats to discourage the lamb from nursing. There used to be a liquid you dipped the teat into or brushed onto the teat to keep goats from nursing their teats. "Self suckers" are does that will relieve the tension on a full bag by nursing on their own teats. They used to have stuff to put on for that. If nothing else can you find the stuff that used to be sold to stop children from biting their nails? Once you have dried her up, you don't want the lamb to nurse on her again. Particularly when she gets bred you don't want that other lamb to nurse and get all the colostrum the doe will need to protect her own kids. If you can't separate her from the other lamb, maybe one of those funnel wound collars designed to keep animals from chewing their stitches would work. Put it on the young lamb and she won't be able to get to the teat.

Between the precocious udder (a sign of a heavy milker) and her willingness to mother the younger lamb it sounds like you have a real winner there as a starter brood ewe!

 

[WolfeMomma]

Most likely a precocious udder. Our first Toggenburg dairy goat developed a very pretty precocious udder at 10 months old! She was also our first goat so we were shocked to see an udder with milk in a virgin doe. When she eventually kidded and freshened she was a copious milker. Too bad that Togggenburg milk tastes so awful! We sold her to another 4-Her who wanted to show and feed calves.

I suggest you separate her from the younger lamb. Just a piece of stock panel dividing their pen will help. Also check some of the dairy goat suppliers to see if you can find something to put on her teats to discourage the lamb from nursing. There used to be a liquid you dipped the teat into or brushed onto the teat to keep goats from nursing their teats. "Self suckers" are does that will relieve the tension on a full bag by nursing on their own teats. They used to have stuff to put on for that. If nothing else can you find the stuff that used to be sold to stop children from biting their nails? Once you have dried her up, you don't want the lamb to nurse on her again. Particularly when she gets bred you don't want that other lamb to nurse and get all the colostrum the doe will need to protect her own kids. If you can't separate her from the other lamb, maybe one of those funnel wound collars designed to keep animals from chewing their stitches would work. Put it on the young lamb and she won't be able to get to the teat.

Between the precocious udder (a sign of a heavy milker) and her willingness to mother the younger lamb it sounds like you have a real winner there as a starter brood ewe!

I agree, I think she will be a great mother, which makes me happy as I am so excited for her to have lambs!