[Chrissie]

Hello,

From my terminology in the heading you might guess we are newbies to lambing  ...We are lambing 3 sheep this spring and they are due in the next couple of weeks. Whilst I noticed that with two of them the udders are beginning to get bigger, warm and 'squishy' the other one still has normal small nipples.

They were all in with a Shetland Moorit ram late November / early December and the one with the small nipples is a wee Hebridian.  Is that normal? I hope she is OK? No change in behaviour so far. We didn't want to breed from her this year but eventually the ram got into her paddock a couple of weeks after we had him. Could it be that she is not that far on? Or should we be keeping an eye on her to make sure she lambs ok?

The vet was out a few weeks ago and gave them a check over and said they were all fine and in good condition...

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Chrissie.

[Marches Farmer]

Do you know the date the ram was last in with her? Pregnancy is around 21 weeks, maybe a few days longer for a first-timer carrying a single.  The vulva is usually a better indicator of imminent lambing - becomes much larger, longer and softer than seen on a teg (hogget).  First-timers often have very small udders and teats, although my experience is with larger sheep.  No doubt someone with your breed will be along soon to advise.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I have sometimes found that some of the younger sheep, ie shearlings, can sometimes produce lambs but not have enough milk for them. It could be of course that she might quivkly bag up a few days before lambing, that has happened to mine many times, I shouldnt worry just keep a close eye on her and wait and see.

[Fleecewife]

When you say 'nipples', do you mean the teats themselves are tiny, or the udder is flat?  First time lambers can often not start to fill the udder until later in pregnancy.  Have the other ewes lambed previously, and what breed are they?  What age is your Heb?  I am assuming this is her first possible lambing.....

She might not be in lamb at all, or she might have a way to go before delivery.  You can't tell by looking at her belly, especially if she is carrying a single.  Or, she could be a wether....it has happened 

Just be patient and all will be revealed 

[Chrissie]

Thanks for all the replies! Yes, so she has flat udder and teats, I think she must be 8-10 years old. we got her from a friend's croft on the west coast about 3 years ago and they hadn't bred from her because they had a rather large ram and she is tiny. So hopefully the Shetland smallish ram should be fine (as I said we didn't intend to breed from her but he jumped the fence and got her in the end).

She will be a first time mum because of our lack of fencing skills - must admit that whole small holding business is such a steep learning curve and every time you think you are on top of your stuff something else happens 

...been doing this for 6 years now (first season of lambing though) and still feel like a complete beginner whenever the season kicks off  - can't bear any more fencing repairs and fed up with all the mud

I failed to note down the exact dates of the ram visit (have learned my lesson here!) but it would have been later than the others because he only jumped the fence after a few weeks - he went back out in January so maybe there is a bigger gap that I thought....

Trying really hard to be patient but then again....the kids and me are so excited and can't wait for the lambs  !!

[Blondie]

At that age she could be barren - especially if she has never been in lamb.

Have to sit tight and wait and see! (Or get her scanned!)