The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Losthawk19 on May 08, 2020, 09:17:36 pm
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I have a roughly 5 years old cheviot mule ewe, who in February while getting checked by a farmer friend for something else, noticed she felt a bit... Pregnant.
Got the vet out to ultrasound her and they found thst yes she is in fact pregnant
It's now May and there's nothing, not too concerning in itself as we don't know when they are actually due.
But here is her list of signs:
Full teats that are firm and produced milk 10 days ago (concerned for mastisis so treated for it and milk was drawn from udder at the time, it was white and thin)
She has 1 udder with contents in it, 1 empty. The 1 with contents is very jiggly, not firm.
She lies down in odd positions, and frequently does star gazing, lifts her lips and licks them alot, and sits and stretches alot, and her hind end sometimes jumps when lying down.
She is also very sensitive if you touch her teats.
Her loin is very floppy, so when I press that area it wiggles alot, like touching a carrier bag full of water.
The muscles between her final rib and hip are very hard and then when getting to thr loin area suddenly jump inwards.
Her BCS is 3.5 she was a 4 however a month ago.
Can sheep do phantom pregnancies to that degree and point that an ultrasound goes yes this sheep's pregnant?
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I would say pregnant.
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If a farmer thought she felt pregnant in February and it's now May, I think she may have lost the lambs. Gestation is 21 weeks in sheep, and the embryos are very small for the first half of that. I don't know for sure when is the earliest a ewe would feel pregnant to the touch, but I would think it would need to be within 10 weeks of lambing, probably less.
However, I guess it is just about possible she is gearing up to lamb and the movements you describe are her pre-lambing. I have never heard of a phantom pregnancy in a ewe (which doesn't mean it can't happen, only that I have never heard of it) nor are ewes normally maiden milkers (ditto).
Your description of "thin white" milk and only in one quarter (the whole organ is the udder, singular, and each half in sheep is called a quarter! - because in cows there are four teats) does make me wonder if there was an infection rather than lactation. I had an unbred heifer once had some fluid in one quarter, which the vet called "felon". It wasn't pus and it wasn't milk.
You say you treated her for mastitis? What did you give her? Some systemic antibiotics are contraindicated in pregnancy...
I am sorry I am not giving you any firm answers, am I. Hopefully others will be along soon and can be more helpful!
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Probably the only person that can tell you for sure is the vet again (depending when they saw her last).
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How long was she with a tup and when was he taken out? If scanned as in lamb by the vet yes she should be definitely in lamb. You are describing the signs of early labour - there could well be lambs this evening! If she has never lambed before, it may take a while to deliver lambs.
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She will lamb when she's ready ,so stop poking prodding and hovering at 5yrs old i assume she has had a lamb before ? You broke the teat seal 10 days ago which would increase the chance's of an infection getting in !! Since you say her condition is reducing this is better( so long as not to much ) than increasing so try to keep her off lots of grass as this will increase lamb size and can cause problems . Just keep watching her and when she acts differently then the time will be right :sheep:
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My ewes all behave like that in the final weeks of pregnancy. I find that when they start in the first stages of labour they stand up when they would normally lie down, sometimes for hours. I watch them on a camera so I know it is not me disturbing them.