The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: egglady on April 15, 2010, 02:58:40 pm
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one of my shetland ewes is so pregnant that she is square in shape (honestly). All the others have now lambed and she's still waddling around. So i got to thinking that with people, we would probably want to induce at this stage, but never heard of this with sheep. Does it happen? and if so, when and why?
thanks
PS - no doubt by the time someone replies to this post she'll have delivered quads!!!
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Oooo take a pic of the square ewe so we can all see her
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one of my shetland ewes is so pregnant that she is square in shape (honestly). All the others have now lambed and she's still waddling around. So i got to thinking that with people, we would probably want to induce at this stage, but never heard of this with sheep. Does it happen? and if so, when and why?
thanks
PS - no doubt by the time someone replies to this post she'll have delivered quads!!!
We had a very large ewe on the farm when I was a student and we were taking bets as to how many she would have, and your right they do look square. When she did finally get round to it she had a single and a LOT of fluid ???
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we'll have a ready made swimming pool if all she's got in there is a single plus fluid!!!!
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Not to worry you, but did you see Country File last week? they had one that had sextuplets!
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OMG! what on earth would i do with all of them???
my next door neighbour has jacobs and one of her ewes delivered twin lambs this afternoon and then this evening another of her ewes has to be delivered of dead lambs (twins again) - isnt nature cruel sometimes?
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Well my square ewe finally delivered a weeny little lamb in the early hours of Wednesday morning. It came out nose first and I managed to deliver it eventually with just one leg forward but not until I had called the vet out because I thought it was stuck with head and leg out.
Had she done the deed during the day I could have asked advice about how long to leave before calling vet but we live and learn. Forty minutes later she had a big contraction and between us out it came however a bit poorly. No meconium passed or faeces and now scouring and hunch backed. Any ideas anyone? I have given antibiotics, 3ml of treacle liquid and approx 100ml milk with some lactulose on advice of vet.
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oh scotsgirl well done you! that's the sort of thing you dread isnt it? don't have any advice for you i'm afraid but hope the wee one picks up.
laura
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Well she is still alive after four days so fingers crossed. I am topping up with a bottle and she has started bouncing a bit today although her belly was gurgling when she drank tonight which might be a worry. May give more antibiotics in morning if not happy.
Might try and swap these ewes for Suffolk crosses if anyone wants them. Not sure the Wiltshire Horn x Southdown is for me, I prefer my mules and Suffolks.
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hey scotsgirl, hope all is progressing well.
just thought I'd update and let you know that our square ewe STILL hasn't lambed. She's now 2 full weeks behind the rest. I wonder when i should start to worry? She's eating and drinking fine and happy to fight with the others over her food - even though it takes her forever to actually get to the trough she's so fat......I'm kind of assuming that the ram probably didnt get to her first time round and she'll now be 3 weeks behind the rest? Anyone any ideas?
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I had one like that last year and thought she would never produce. As you say she was 3 weeks later and produced at 4am. Look at teats, also vulva will be swelling and reddening. It will get very red and almost look bulging about 24-48hrs before they lamb.
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her vulva is definately swollen & been so for a couple of days now so maybe today is the day! but then I've said that every day for the last 2 weeks.....ho-hum, I'm sure she'll deliver when she's ready.....no thought for me at all!!!!
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I've got one too......Welsh Badger faced....was a small ewe now... enormous and our last lambs born on Good Friday! Last year we had a similar one but she lambed ok in the end. :)
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I've got one too......Welsh Badger faced....was a small ewe now... enormous and our last lambs born on Good Friday! Last year we had a similar one but she lambed ok in the end. :)
thanks for that - gives me a bit of confidence. spoke to our local sheep farmer and he agreed that the tup maybe just missed her first cycle and got her next time round so 3 weeks between is nothing to worry about. if it wasnt for the size of her i wouldnt be worried i have to say
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Surprise, she must have heard me....my son just rang me at work to say she'd just had twins and all well!
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We have one that seems to be well behind the rest. I know she was definitely in the first 3 week cycle because of the raddle colour. The one ewe that went in the second three week cycle had twins last night! When we let the new lambs and mum out tomorrow, I think we're going to let the last pregnant ewe out as well but leave them all access to the barn. Poor thing has been in for weeks now and is desperate to get out to the grass!
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I bet she starts as soon as you let her out! Anyway with improving weather she should be fine although may make it more tricky for you checking her. Perhaps get her back in at night if feasible? You may spot her starting to get restless which will give you time to persuade her back in.
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still nothing happening my end! this is a busy week for me so i bet she lambs just when it's at it's worst!
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Of our 7 ewes, 6 had lambed. When we let out number 6 (Norma) with her lambs yesterday, we also let out number 7 (Maz) as we had decided to let her take her chances in the field. She had been in for so long we thought we might have had duff information about her tupping date and she was desperate to get back on the grass. This morning she had her twins! She was supposed to have been tupped by a Suffolk, according to the raddle colour, but the twins are definately Rylands, so I guess our information wasn't perfect. That's 14 lambs from 7 ewes. Not bad for a first year. :sheep:
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Has she lambed yet egglady?
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no lambs from square girl yet!!!!!
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our old lady jacob was the same huuuuge eating loads 2 weeks behind rest......finally produced lovely little ram lamb ;D
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just been down and she's STILL hanging on in there!!
Even my friends soay's have started lambing before her!
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Laura I thik I am going to have to come and visit once these lambs finally show face.
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Laura I thik I am going to have to come and visit once these lambs finally show face.
you are more than welcome anytime. just let me know.
had a laugh today, was in the field just sitting on the grass scratching the really tame lamb (bramble) and i bent over...well the next thing i knew i had a lamb on my back! it was the funniest, coolest, and most amazing things ever! and who was there to see it???? you guessed it - not a soul!
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well folks, our square ewe is no more..........we now have a proud mother of....TRIPLETS :sheep: :sheep: :sheep:
will post photos as soon as i figure out how to make them small enough to post on here!!
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Brilliant Laura, well done. :sheep: :sheep: :sheep:
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At last! I've been watching this thread for days, waiting to see what happened. Wonderful result! Good luck with the lambs.
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congratulations!
Same as Morri2, I've kept checking to see when your square lady goes pop!
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Congrats :sheep: :sheep: :sheep:
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the stress was terrible, she was most definately not herself all day yesterday and clearly couldn't get comfortable. I thought she was in labour for hours and, as one of our neighbours lost a couple of lambs because they weren't delivered soon enough I was really, really nervous. We tried to catch her to put her safely in the stable at tea time last night but she was having none of it so we had no choice but to keep a watchful eye on her. So it was a long evening as you might imagine!
anyway, hubby was watching footy last night and we, being complete novices and believing everything we read, had read that they won't deliver late at night as the lambs are more likely to be taken by predators, so off I went for a bath about 11pm. Hubby finished watching footy, popped out to do his last night checks. there's me lying peacefully in the bath when this raving lunatic (hubby!) bursts in and shouts "it's triplets; Grace has had triplets!"
me, being the experienced one (been on a 2 day course, read avidly and being a member of here!!), says "nah, she wont deliver this late at night, so what's the real story?" He blubbers for about 5 minutes trying to convince me before i finally (and grudgingly) get out the bath and put my clothes back on.
so the rest you know...sheep DO NOT read the same books as us, nor do they deliver only in daylight when it's safe!!!
anyway, all seem well, she's feeding them herself and they all seem to be doing well - tiny though.
they have the hubbards and the 2.5 week old ducks in the stable next door to keep them company and we've never been happier.
there are some things money just can't buy....though a bit more would be nice!
thanks for all your good wishes folks - you have no idea (well actually i think you probably have) how much comfort this forum gives.
xx :sheep: :sheep: :sheep:
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You probably have to take one of them off her, and bottle feed. Or top up all three, but it's quite difficult to get them to take the bottle and continue drinking off the ewe. I have tried last year with a set of twins where the ewe didn't have enough milk, and didn't really succeed. Should have just taken them off completely - this way unfortunately small hoggs, very small ones...
But congratulations anyway - and you didn't have to assist the birth either!
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You probably have to take one of them off her, and bottle feed. Or top up all three, but it's quite difficult to get them to take the bottle and continue drinking off the ewe. I have tried last year with a set of twins where the ewe didn't have enough milk, and didn't really succeed. Should have just taken them off completely - this way unfortunately small hoggs, very small ones...
anke, that's something i hadnt considered to be honest. they all seem to be feeding well and i'm reluctant to interfere - appreciate thoughts and advice. PS - sheep are shetlands
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We had a set of triplets and took one off to bottle feed. We've now had twins from a ewe with mastitis on one side We decided not to take one lamb away but to monitor both and top up as necessary. We have no trouble at all getting them to come to the bottle. The only trouble we have is from the first bottle fed lamb (Lamborghini!) because she thinks any bottle should be hers, even if she's just been fed!
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Triplets can be raised successfully without intervention. I've not experienced this myself but am presently looking after my neighbours flock where there is a badger faced ewe with triplets - all of which have fed from mum and all look very good on it! I think you just need to moniter the situation and if one is looking like its not getting its fair share, then offer the bottle!
As regards the outcome of underfed lambs - I do have (brief) experience of this one....one of my ewes dried up through illness with twins a number of years back and we didn't realise until several weeks later. As a result her two ewe lambs remained small. I was beginning to think I was breeding pygmy Dorsets!! However, by the time they were two, they had both filled out really well and now, at four years old, have produced a number of fantastic lambs - I can say that this year they are the best of the bunch. No good of course, if you want them for meat (unless its mutton), but just wanted to make the point that they can come good in the end. And I should add, they did have the all important colostrum. Cheers!
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thanks folkd, thats really helpful. so i'm thinking i'll keep them in for a few days, handle them so they are used to me and monitor them closely. i like the idea of topping up as necessary and as long as thay'll still drink from their mum, then that sounds a pretty perfect solution to me. they are now a day and a half old and presumably if they werent getting enough they'd be lying around and have no energy?
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Hooray! And congratulations. At last and she had an excuse for being square unlike mine who is still square with and tiddly little lamb!
Good luck hope they all thrive.
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It's been great reading about another square Shetland. My lady finally produced her triplets on Monday, with assistance from the vet as no one was coming out! Last year she had twin lamb disease and we bottle fed two of hre triplets since she immediately rejected them. This year she is healthy and feeding all three - ewes just seem to know if they can cope. However, after leaving them on day one, we're now feeding them twice a day as a top up and they are quite happy to go back to mum and carry on eating - greedy little blighters! These Shetlands are brilliant sheep and I just admire them more and more.
Good luck with yours.
Sue
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It's been great reading about another square Shetland. My lady finally produced her triplets on Monday, with assistance from the vet as no one was coming out! Last year she had twin lamb disease and we bottle fed two of hre triplets since she immediately rejected them. This year she is healthy and feeding all three - ewes just seem to know if they can cope. However, after leaving them on day one, we're now feeding them twice a day as a top up and they are quite happy to go back to mum and carry on eating - greedy little blighters! These Shetlands are brilliant sheep and I just admire them more and more.
Good luck with yours.
Sue
Hi Sue, i am in a real dilemma about whether to top up feed them or not. They are scrawny wee things but happy and bouncy, so it seems they are getting what they need. I'm just concerned that when we put them out (plan is for tomorrow when they will be 6 days old) that they wont do quite as well and then it will be harder to catch them to feed if we havent already established that routine when they are in - why did you decide to top up?
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I would usually take one triplet off, as I feel you will either end up with one very weak (as its never getting any) or three fairly small lambs. Topping up and having them on mum is also quite difficult, I tried it last year with an older ewe who wasn't having enough milk for her twins, and didn't succeed very well at all, they just did not want the bottle.... result: tiny shetland hoggs and probably no use for breeding.
I think if you top up three you might as well feed one entirely from the bottle and leave two on mum (two of similar size, and I prefer to take the males off, as they are for eating either as lambs or mutton), it would probably work out the same in terms if time and money. As long as they all got colostrum and were suckling her for a couple of days/topped up one will then take the bottle quite easily.
Best would be fostering onto ewe with single/dead lambs - but with a small flock thats sooooo difficult.
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thanks anke, i think what i'm going to do is try all of them on the bottle tomorrow and whichever one i think takes it best, we will bottle feed. but i'd like to leave it with its mum as well and hope that it just comes to us when it's time for it's bottle - do you think that owuld work?
ps - all 3 are very close in size and all three are boys
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Like you I've been in touch with a few people over this feeding issue. Last year the sense of responsibility and time overhead on bottle feeding was pretty high just for two lambs and also spending time taking them out in the field with all the others meant I was exhausted! Having all the triplets with their mum really takes the pressure off and what I've found is that if the lambs aren't hungry they won't eat much. But at the moment all three are gobbling down 100ml at a time and it gives their mum a bit of a rest as well since she'll just lie next to us while I feed them. It's also a lovely moment of peace and tranquility and a timely reminder that lambing is wonderful.