The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: ewesaidit on September 22, 2020, 07:15:46 pm
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Hi. I have a ewe with one side that hasn’t reduced as much as the other. Lambs weaned late July ish. The teat was looking a bit swollen on the larger side to start with. I drew the one side a few weeks ago - no milk, pus or blood just liquid like dirty dishwasher. At the time she wasn’t thin but was a bit tucked in behind the ribs and a bit dull but no temperature and the udder both sides soft. Had the vet out, she gave Draxxin and a steroid ‘to boost appetite’. The vet said she may have an internal abscess with infection draining down in to the udder which I thought sounded very odd? The larger side just filled back up again within a few days and its still double the size of the ‘deflated’ side. Teat is normal. She is eating fine. Do I draw it again or just leave alone now? She did have draxxin which you would think would have sorted any infection. Planning for tupping - do I put her in lamb knowing one side may not be ok and planning accordingly? Any thoughts? Thanks
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I have 1 strike and out for mastitis which it does sound like your girl has had. Sadly it can reoccur at subsequent lambings and pass onto other ewes through bedding, it can also scar the udder and cause reduced milk yield. My ewes are prolific so tend to have twins or triplets, anything that could potentially not rear twins goes cull. It depends how much of a risk you want to take really.
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Does your vet deal with many large animals? It sounds to me like she has had mastitus or possibly still has a low grade infection? The udder can go down and back to near normal, sometimes you can feel lumps in the bag, although not always. The scaring is a real problem and most of the time after mastitus that has been missed the quater is blocked. I do the same as Twizzel, any ewes that have it get culled.
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Thanks for the replies. On closer inspection yesterday I did find a slightly lumpy bit in the centre of the bag, soft all round about it though and teat seems ok, at the time neither the vet or I could find any lump though and vet wasn’t convinced it was mastitis at the time - oh well ????.
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Sounds like mastitis then. I’m afraid I wouldn’t breed from her again if there’s a lump in the udder.
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Thanks Twizzel. It was just that the vet didn’t confirm it as mastitis at the time and thought it was an infection from elsewhere which seemed unusual and had me wondering if anyone else had heard of that. Yes, she’s off the breeding programme now ????