Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Swollen bellies  (Read 3958 times)

Smashy and gang

  • Joined Apr 2011
Swollen bellies
« on: June 13, 2011, 10:04:59 pm »
Hi there - another question from me - sorry!  It's just that there's so much information you all have that I feel I need to make the most of it!

So - we have two ewes who are decidedly swollen in the belly department, but not equally each side.  To be fair, one has been like this for many months (to the point where we thought she'd got in lamb accidentally when she was 'on holiday' with our friends) and her belly hasn't changed - she's always seemed well and had lovely lovely lambs this year but is still lopsided!  The other ewe has only become swollen and lopsided in the last few weeks, since lambing - again, she's well, eating, running round etc. 

Should I worry?  I don't think its gas because they're swollen bellies sound solid, not tympanic. Any ideas?  Thankyou!

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Swollen bellies
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2011, 10:48:32 pm »
Yours may be something totally different, but last year we had a ewe who looked as pregnant after lambing as she had before - to the extent that I accused her of having stolen someone else's lamb.  She was also lopsided - and remained that way, huge.  She lambed again this year with twins and when I watched her walking towards me a couple of days ago she still looks extremely pregnant.  I have come to the conclusion that it is just her - that's the way she is.  She is perfectly happy and healthy in every other way.
I will be interested in what others have to say - the only advice I have had with mine is to cull her...which I haven't.  Very odd  ??? ::) :sheep:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: Swollen bellies
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2011, 05:33:48 am »
More swollen on the left, where the rumen is? Our older ewes' bellies seem to 'drop' (like the rest of us then  :D) and that somehow seems to make them look fatter too.

I'm thinking if they're eating, pooping, running around and feeding their lambs, there's not too much to worry about  :)

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Swollen bellies
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2011, 09:02:11 am »
We've got one that looks pregnant - and her lambs are 6 weeks old. She always looks like that and seems fine and healthy. I wouldn't worry if all other signs are good. We humans are all different shapes too  ;D

Smashy and gang

  • Joined Apr 2011
Re: Swollen bellies
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2011, 01:54:37 pm »
Fabulous, thankyou all!  Not partic more swollen on left - swollen both sides but in different places (ie. higher or lower, nearer the front or nearer the back, on different sides) - I'll leave well alone then!  Hurrah, no vets bill!!

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Swollen bellies
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2011, 06:11:33 pm »
The only thing to add is that sometimes it seems to be the lopsided ones that we find 'kessing' - stuck on their backs.  They always look lopsided if they've been upside down for a few hours, but with some it doesn't seem to wear off - and the looks-like-a-table effect no doubt makes them more prone to getting stuck with their legs in the air.

(They really are stupid, sometimes, aren't they!  But then - they have staff tending to their every need, and we run ourselves ragged looking after them - so just who is stupid in this picture...  ;))
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

 

Forum sponsors

FibreHut Energy Helpline Thomson & Morgan Time for Paws Scottish Smallholder & Grower Festival Ark Farm Livestock Movement Service

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2024. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS