[Solentfish]

Hi, this year was only our second lambing, so still new to all this.
Following weaning this year I have had two sheep in particular which seem to have already dried off on one side, but one side of the udder must have still been producing milk, as several days after weaning only one side is 'full'. I didn't notice a particular difference in the udder prior to weaning, but I am guessing the lamb must have only been drinking off one side.
I have got both of these sheep into check as I was worried about mastitis, having had one about a month ago with summer mastitis which I managed to catch early.
Luckily there is no sign of mastitis in the two 'uneven' udders, both have normal milk and are not at all sore, and the udder is firm with milk but not hot or hard. In the 'dry' side there are no lumps or bumps and seem perfectly healthy. Both of these sheep certainly had fully functioning udders after lambing.
So, just wondering if it is common for sheep to dry off naturally on one side before the other?
Thanks
Julie

[Anke]

Possibly.

Take them onto poor ground, or if they are in just give some poor quality hay to feed. No concentrates for a while. Keep checking udder to make sure it isn't getting hot/hard/painful. If yes AB's straight away.

[Solentfish]

Thanks Anke,
They are on poor grazing with no supplements or extras.
They seem perfectly happy in themselves, but I am keeping a close eye on them.
I weaned the ram lambs and wethers a couple of weeks ago and didn't notice any of those mums being lop-sided while drying off. I weaned the ewe lambs last Thursday, and was surprized these two have the uneven udders. The lambs were mostly all 5 months old, so weren't still drinking a lot of milk.
Julie