Wishful thinking?

[Mike CHS]

I have a couple of sheep that look like they are doing well but when you put your hands on them they aren't quite so good. It's easier to see how they really are now that they are losing their winter coats. Here's a decent article about how to score your animals condition:

https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/management-reproduction/condition-scoring-sheep

 

[Sheepshape]

Domestic sheep often have been bred to have more and bigger lambs than the primitive types, so usually need supplementation in the last few weeks of pregnancy and during the times they are producing the greatest volumes of milk (3-4 weeks from lambing).
Young ewes with a good body score, little problems with internal parasites, only having one lamb (assuming this to lamb to be of modest size) and on good grazing probably will be OK.
This reminds me...at the time of lambing, she should be wormed with an amtihelmintic suggested by your vet (who will have local knowledge as to which worms are prevalent). The ewe has a dropping off of her immunity in the last weeks before lambing to allow the lamb not to be rejected by the mum in the time just before delivery when foetal cells start to enter the maternal circulation. Worm her before you turn her out.

Good Luck.

 

[Baymule]

I have one ewe that always has twins. She loses a lot of weight after lambing, she gives everything to her milk. The ewes get a pellet Feed, then I give her extra by herself.

 

[mystang89]

Domestic sheep often have been bred to have more and bigger lambs than the primitive types, so usually need supplementation in the last few weeks of pregnancy and during the times they are producing the greatest volumes of milk (3-4 weeks from lambing).
Young ewes with a good body score, little problems with internal parasites, only having one lamb (assuming this to lamb to be of modest size) and on good grazing probably will be OK.
This reminds me...at the time of lambing, she should be wormed with an amtihelmintic suggested by your vet (who will have local knowledge as to which worms are prevalent). The ewe has a dropping off of her immunity in the last weeks before lambing to allow the lamb not to be rejected by the mum in the time just before delivery when foetal cells start to enter the maternal circulation. Worm her before you turn her out.
Good Luck.

Thanks, there was a post in a worming thread that you had done which mentioned working https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/worming.37120/#post-530522
https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/pregnant-ewes-and-worming.37025/#post-528577
I feel a bit behind the curve right now which is not what I like. Sounds like I need to be getting some grain + finding a wormer and taking a fecal sample to the vet. @Southern by choice mentioned CD & T and the link she posted said something about Ivomec drench so I'll try to find that. I read in one of those forums that another person had seen success with Ivomec.

@Mike CHS Thanks for the link. It's been bookmarked. Right now the ewe probably has around 14lbs of wool on her making it difficult to do any weighing or seeing her condition based on body weight. I'm reluctant to do any sheering on her until after the lamb has been weened due to any unnecessary stress I'll be placing her under. Do you think its ok to sheer her right now being so close to birthing?

 

[Mike CHS]

Sorry but I'm no help on wool sheep and I find myself still learning about hair sheep.

We try to avoid stress all of the time but especially when lambs will be there soon.

 

[mystang89]

Sorry but I'm no help on wool sheep and I find myself still learning about hair sheep.

We try to avoid stress all of the time but especially when lambs will be there soon.

That's more help than you think because they are going to be sheered here soon and I'll be able to use that link to see what condition they are in.

I just took a fecal sample to the vet and they said there wasn't any trace of parasites to be found. I did ask them to draw up a wormer though just in case. Better to be safe than sorry. I'll give her some for the next 3 days and then about 3 weeks after Lambing. Thanks everyone!

 

[Sheepshape]

Shearing should wait until after the lambs are pretty much weaned in wool sheep (which all of mine are).

 

[mystang89]

Not wishful thinking! They're here! I can't post pictures of them because my phone throws up error messages when trying to load and my computer crashed yesterday.

 

[mystang89]

More will follow. I'll probably start a journal when my computer gets fixed. I have auto correcting the auto correct on phones.

 

[Sheepshape]

Well done....lovely lambs and kids!