[TheSmilingSheep]

As ever - hugely useful. Thank you for sharing... Sounds like you're managing it with such cool..... Even the double showers....

[Womble]

Sounds like you're managing it with such cool.....

Well, I'm certainly getting better at sheep Judo!  Last night, we caught a ewe, gave her two injections, tipped her, milked and creamed her, then bottle fed it to the lambs. We couldn't have done all that last year, so we're definitely learning..... crisis by crisis! 


Also, whilst the irony of milking sheep in the p1ssing rain just so I can bottle feed it back to their own lambs has not been lost on me, I've discovered tonight that fresh sheep's milk actually tastes really good! 

[TheSmilingSheep]

So, you retain your cool, AND your sense of humour... The number of things I couldn't do last year, well, last month actually.... but I have to confess to having had sense of humour failure at times...
Keep going - puts a smile on our faces.....

[Jullienne]

[member=2128]Womble[/member] it is probably the lamb which is biting the bottle. I would say it is undershot, best keep it off and then get rid of it at the end of the year. It might be an idea to keep an eye on her offspring next year and see how they feed, it could be a genetic throwback. I had a cow once which kept producing calves with undershot jaws and yet she wasnt undershot at all, odd.  I had to bucket rear the calves, but she was a house cow so it didnt really matter; I never kept any of the calves anyway, sent them for beef keep up with what youre doing and it looks as though you have caught in time.

[Womble]

Well, I've checked the lambs, and their teeth look normal to me - just very sharp!  I'll watch closely for that later though. The worst affected ewe seems a bit better today, and the other one is about the same.

Today's dilemma is what to do with the lambs that are still with them?  Do I take them off and try to dry the ewes out, or leave them on to self-wean?  The lambs are 5 weeks old now, so they'll be fine either way.  I just don't know what's best for the ewes: leave them on and risk more teat damage and infection, or take them off and risk mastitis?

My gut feel is take them off and dry out the ewes. My understanding is that this would involve penning them with just hay and water for a while, and milking them just a little to release the pressure until they dry off.

Do you have any thoughts on what I should do, and how exactly to go about it though?

[Anke]

Yep, pen the ewes and only hay (or straw) and water until dry. As to the lambs being fine if weaned at 5weeks, I wouldn't be so sure on that one. Lost a ewe 5weeks post-lambing last year and although her lambs survived, they are markedly smaller than their mates... but these are Shetlands, which would wean naturally a lot later than 5 weeks..., but if these do take the bottle, can you give them one or two per day for a few more weeks? How well are these taking creep?

[Womble]

Ah, sorry I didn't mean I'd wean the lambs yet, I just mean they're nice and strong. They can go in with their brothers and sisters to be bottle fed, so I have no concerns about them.

So if I put the ewes on hay and water, how often and how much should I milk them?

[waterbuffalofarmer]

The danger with leaving the lambs on is that they could cause permanent damage to the udder resulting in bitten off teats and extensive tissue damage to the bag, resulting in culling of the affected ewe/ewes. Taking them away and bottle feeding them is the best option. I would milk out the ewes 2-3 times daily, massaging their teats and bags with the cream. The milking should help alleviate any pressure. Next year watch out for it again, as someone said just before it could be genetic. All the best

[SallyintNorth]

If a ewe has mastitis then yes you would milk her out 2 - 3 times a day.

If you are wanting to dry her off, however, then milking her out, and milking her frequently, are the very last things you would do.  Sorry wbf, but your regime would keep her in milk, possibly even increase production!

To dry her off, straw and water, just milk off enough to keep her comfortable.  If the quarter is tight as a drum, milk a little off until it isn't. If it's not tight as a a drum, leave it and check it again later. 

[Anke]

Exactly as SiN says. After a couple of days, only once checking probably necessary unless these are really milky ewes (and the probably aren't if they cannot rear triplets).

OK, I mis-understood re weaning the lambs.

[shep53]

Getting a little confused, the remaining lambs have never had a bottle so at 5wks old they could be easy or very very  difficult to teach , they are at the moment suckling the ewes and all are happy so why do you want to remove them .    Teat damage is not uncommon and ewes recover with just slightly lumpy teats next year

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Getting a little confused, the remaining lambs have never had a bottle so at 5wks old they could be easy or very very  difficult to teach , they are at the moment suckling the ewes and all are happy so why do you want to remove them .    Teat damage is not uncommon and ewes recover with just slightly lumpy teats next year

problem is that if the lambs are left on they would cause unecessary suffering to the ewe and possibly result in the ewe being culled. Better to take off the lambs than risk further damage and keep an eye on the ewe/ewes in question next year. It looks like you have caught them in time [member=2128]Womble[/member]  keep up the good work and keep us updated

[shep53]

No ewe is going to let a lamb suckle if her teats are sore , the first signs of a problem is a lamb/lambs which are hungry

[pharnorth]

I've got a ewe with a similar problem to Wombles so hopefully it's ok to,add to this post rather than start a new one?

Shearer came out today, and noted one ewe had a sore teat. It doesn't look like an infection but more like teeth damage from the twin lambs which are 10 weeks old.  It is at the base of the teat on one side and clearly a hard lump behind about the size of a malteser. I was able to express milk ok and it looks normal. In fact it tastes normal,as I accidentally squirted it in my face!  The other teat was also normal but I don't think there was much milk on either side.

Prior to the Shearer coming I had noticed her sometimes pushing the lambs off but not
every time they tried to feed.  Put some antiseptic cream on the sore area and will aim to get some udder cream tomorrow. What else should I do?

[Marches Farmer]

In my experience any problem with the udder or teats usually flares up the following lambing, irrespective of whether a/bs appear to work.  If a ewe is a poor milker, even though she's in good condition and been correctly fed during pregnancy and post lambing, she will continue to be a poor milker and her lambs will continue to go hungry and do damage.