The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Clarebelle on April 10, 2018, 05:46:08 pm
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I have 4 ewes, 2 are last years ewe lambs who were not put to the ram at the end of last year (Shetland X), my 2 older ewes are both in lamb.
The first ewe is due to lamb any time now, she's been bagging up for a week and is looking pretty uncomfortable but is not yet in labour.
Today I have noticed that one of the empty ewes keeps trying to suckle from the pregnant ewe. She's not getting anything, the ewe buts her away but I'm assuming the empty ewe can smell the milk and is trying her luck?
My concern is, if this ewe does manage to catch mum off guard and get a tug on the teat, will this stimulate anything that shouldn't be stimulated yet (i.e. colostrum production prior to labour or even bring on labour?).
My other, bigger concern is whether this empty ewe poses any risk to the new born lamb? When the lamb arrives will she still try to get to the milk and be aggressive towards the newborn lamb as a consequence? Should I separate the pregnant ewes from the empty ewes? I don't usually bother as I don't have a lot of space but I can if I really need to. Or maybe this is a non issue and I'm worrying about nothing
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Separate , when she lambs the ewe lamb may steal all the milk and could damage her teats
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I have had accidents when hoggs were running with other ewes lambing and their newborns. If you can separate them, at least until the lambs are a week or two old, it's not a bad thing. It's good for hoggs to see lambs, so they know what they are when they have their own, but it's not necessary for them to be there at the birth :)
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I keep my hoggs separate from ewes. They can be enough of a nuisance at the best of times and lambing's not the best of times.
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Thanks everyone, I will separate them :hugsheep: