Author Topic: Ewe who had mastitis scanned with triplets- gulp- advice (Read 4396 times)

debbigord · « **on:** January 04, 2015, 05:43:48 pm »

Two years ago one of our ewes had mastitis after raising twins. We treated with antibiotics and she is fine, has two teats, but I presume only one 'working' side. We kept her away from the rams, but obviously not very successfully this year as she scanned with triplets yesterday! I do have 3 ewes with singles, but have not fostered on before. Presuming she delivers 3 should I take 2 off straight away or see what happens do you think?

Ladygrey · « **Reply #1 on:** January 04, 2015, 05:55:31 pm »

You say she had mastitis after raising twins, she should have been culled after this which would prevent your problem now.

Also you say you presume she only has one working side, so she isnt "fine" she has half a bag and also should not have been kept with half a bag

If she delivers 3 I would take all of them off her straight away and send her off as a cull, because otherwise you may end up keeping her after weaning and the problem may be repeated next year

I had a ewe which developed a terrible udder before lambing, she lambed twins and I took both off her after birth, she then got fat grazing grass over the next month or two and then she went as a cull, simple and easy

mowhaugh · « **Reply #2 on:** January 04, 2015, 06:08:18 pm »

I kept a Kerry Hill ewe for a further 2 years after having mastitis, this was a planned decision knowing she was such a good ewe, I wanted to breed from her further. This goes against all our policies, but I hjave not regretted it, although she went away after weaning this (last?) year at 7 crop.
Your ewe should be able to rear one lamb successfully in all likelihood, but obviously you will need to assess at birth. The ewe I kept had absolutely bags of milk on her one side, so I was able to keep both lambs on her for about 20 hours, which meant they both got colostrum and the idea of sucking a ewe. This let me wait until I had a ewe scanned for a single with bags of milk lambing, so I could twin the 'spare' on as she lambed. This was excellent, but maybe not all that usual. Your priority will be to make sure all the lambs get colostrum, sheep if possible and artificial if not, and then onto a ready supply of milk, if the ewe has enough milk for one, then that's grand, and if you can get the others onto a ewe, that will be ideal.
Probably the most sensible thing would have been to cull her last year, but you haven't so don't go beating yourself up about it, just have a plan in place, and the equipment you need in case you are unable to get them onto a ewe, either straight away or at all.

bazzais · « **Reply #3 on:** January 04, 2015, 06:09:48 pm »

One thing is for sure - you will have to be there for the birth with colostrum at the ready. And if you want to foster - you'll have to hope that something else also gives birth close after the triplets are born. Otherwise you got a few mollies in the kitchen for a couple of weeks

debbigord · « **Reply #4 on:** January 04, 2015, 06:49:46 pm »

Great thanks. Ideally then I'll leave her with one. Somebody told me that when removing lambs you should take off the strongest and leave the weakest with mum. I can see the sense in this I suppose - does anyone have any thoughts?

Old Shep · « **Reply #5 on:** January 04, 2015, 07:57:11 pm »

Sometimes the triplet doesn't make it anyway if its really small, so I would leave the strongest on her. Can't see the point in culling her immediately, at least let her keep one as you plan to do.

Me · « **Reply #6 on:** January 04, 2015, 08:19:49 pm »

I take the one that matches least well if leaving two on a ewe that had three, failing that I try to match size of the ewes single if twinning on, otherwise I take the worst one off

Crbecky10 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 04, 2015, 08:44:27 pm »

Ideally leaving one on would be the best, she'll rear one fine. She's better off rearing one than none! Make sure they all get plenty of colostrum at birth, some off her too. The best way of rearing the other 2 would be to foster them onto your ewes having singles, when they lamb (the singles) try to catch fluids the lamb is born in, and cover one of the triplets in it. Make sure the ewe with the single doesn't see the lamb before its covered and they're usually very good at accepting them as their own

debbigord · « **Reply #8 on:** January 04, 2015, 09:33:13 pm »

Feeling much more positive about it now- many thanks to all.

Llandovery Lass · « **Reply #9 on:** January 07, 2015, 03:58:58 pm »

It happened to me last year, nice old ewe, could rear twins on one side, anyway I penned them for long enough for the lambs to know I had milk in the bottle and then put them with the others. In the early days I took a bottle down twice a day and topped them up and then went to once a day it saved me from having a lonely lamb to look after, they were all fit for slaughter fairly early but I have kept two of them for breeding. Mum has, as my OH puts it 'gone on holiday'.

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #10 on:** January 07, 2015, 04:46:29 pm »

I never remove the strongest, usually if its three lambs I watch them closely for about an hour and see which one is the weakest, I then remove it and bottle feed it, I then watch the ewe to see if the others are suckling well, I do make sure she has enough milk and that both sides work. Last year one ewe had triplets and they were much bigger than the third, I pulled him away from his mum, bottle reared him, along with two others, and now he is huge, nearly ready to go as fat.