Fat ewes and lambing.

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Fat ewes and lambing.
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Camile

Joined: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 376
Location: Co. Galway - Ireland

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 06 2:13 pm Post subject: Fat ewes and lambing.

Hi everyone,

My ewe is what we commonly refer to as "well looked after" .. she was born in January last year.

She has been on a diet for something like 2 months, but she's still a bit fat .. so I was wondering if it would cause problems for lambing.

Because I will have to send her to the ram fairly soon if I want lambs for next year.

What are the real problems with "fattish" ewe and pregnancy ?

Do you think it's advisable to get her pregnant ?

Thanks,
Camile

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 06 2:36 pm Post subject:
The question is more can you get her pregnant? Fat animals don't generally make good breeders (fat is deposited around the ovaries & in overfit animals), but as a yearling you are not forced to get her in lamb until she becomes a shearling anyway. What does her 'diet' consist of?

Camile

Joined: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 376
Location: Co. Galway - Ireland

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 06 2:45 pm Post subject:

Ok so the worst that can happen is that she wouldn't get pregnant isn't it ?

Her diet consists of what she forages .. the odd leaves of cabbage from time to time ..

plus she used to get a mini handfull of barley and some hay ... because she lives with the goats and always nicks some of them ..

I think she's a bit overweight due to the fact that she sleeps in the shed at night with the goats, because otherwise she would be on her own in the field .. and she's always with the wether goat.

but I would love to have her to have in lamb this year to have some lamb on the table for next year .. but don't want to risk her life or anything over that .. so it's not the end of the world is she doesn't have lamb this year ..

Camile

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 06 2:59 pm Post subject:

Going into winter on good hay she should loose a bit of condition up to lambing time. The bulk of the lambs growth is in the third trimester of pregnancy, so an animal in good condition won't need any extra feeding for the first three and a half months, and an over fit one won't need much at all after that point. Going to the tup now though the third trimester should coincide with Spring turn out.

The danger of fat ewes at lambing time (particularly those carrying twins) is Pregnancy Toxaemia, when the energy feed availability is not sufficient for her needs she can rapidly mobilse body fats, which leads to a build up of toxins in the blood (acetones). Fat ewes may be more susceptible because-

i) a fatter animal will have a smaller internal body cavity for bulky feeds , compounded by the effects of multiple foetuses.
ii) a fat animal will have a greater propensity to mobile body fats as opposed to better utilising feeds.

Camile

Joined: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 376
Location: Co. Galway - Ireland

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 06 3:10 pm Post subject:
Ok .. will do more research on the risks of toxaemia to see what it implies ... She's been on a diet for over 2 months now and doesn't get any barley .. I think it made a little difference but no that much ... And if I keep her on hay then it shouldn't be too much problems is it ? by that I mean she should put more weight on and start loosing some more ! Thanks for the advices, Camile

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 06 3:22 pm Post subject:
Hay should do the trick, gradually remove the fat without causing any problems; good hay, ie not dusty, but very leafy well made hay will actually put weight on so may need restricting for the first three months.

SheepShed

Joined: 08 Nov 2006
Posts: 332
Location: In the middle of a Welsh forest

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 06 3:27 pm Post subject:
You'll want to reduce the hay intake in the last few weeks as too much hay can cause prolapsing because of its bulk.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 06 3:33 pm Post subject:

SheepShed wrote:

You'll want to reduce the hay intake in the last few weeks as too much hay can cause prolapsing because of its bulk.

True, she should be out at grass by lambing though.

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 06 4:57 pm Post subject:

When you say January, do you mean January 2006?
There are two schools of thought about getting 'em up the duff while they're still teenagers.
It encourages profligacy in later seasons, which is good, but if you've got a hefty ram prone to siring large lambs, she may not yet have the build for it.
That happened with us last year, when one of our lambs was tupped and was unable to deliver normally - she was chubby but slight of frame. In the end it was a �100 caesarian and a dead lamb

Camile

Joined: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 376
Location: Co. Galway - Ireland

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 06 10:15 am Post subject:

Hello,

Thanks for the advices.

Indeed she was born in January 2006, but she's fairly big ...

She's taller and bigger than the ewes from the flock she comes from .. so I think she's "fully grown" by now ...

and we intend to breed her with a Kerry Hill ram ... so it's should be some small lambs ....

And I'll ask the neighbor to stop giving me his best hay and to give me the "lower" quality one .. so she should burn her fat instead of putting some more.

Camile

moonwind

Joined: 10 Sep 2006
Posts: 1140

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 06 11:16 am Post subject:

What breed is she Camile? Some breeds seem to be more successful being bred form as lambs, although we choose not to do this, as Gervase answered for the same reason.

We had a lamb get tupped by a ram one year (accidently ..she was an out and out hussy!).

We did have difficulty lambing her, but she was OK (wouldn't have lambed herself!) but after that she never did grow on and always stayed almost stunted, her lamb was very mediocre too.

Everyone gets lambing problems from time to time, and you'll learn from your own eye over time, I daresay everyone has their own ways of doing things.

All you have to remember is tis:-

A sheeps main aim in life is to die

A good shepherd prevents this process for as long as possible

Whatever the breed I am sure all sheepy people will agree with that!

It is best to feed more after lambing BUT make sure you always have mineral buckets or licks for her, and as said be someone else watch the haylage or silage you do not want prolapse especially if she is a big girlie.

Messing about with harness's is no fun for the ewe or the shepherd.

A very good book to get is

The Veterinary Book for Sheep Farmers by David C. Henderson

Has some excellent pictures and helpful hints and advice, sort of book you grab for reference when you are puzzling your brain over something.

Camile

Joined: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 376
Location: Co. Galway - Ireland

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 06 11:20 am Post subject:
Hi Moonwind, She's a Suffolk crossed with a black face: And will have a look for that book .. Thanks, Camile

moonwind

Joined: 10 Sep 2006
Posts: 1140

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 06 11:32 am Post subject:

Camile wrote:

Hello,
And I'll ask the neighbor to stop giving me his best hay and to give me the "lower" quality one .. so she should burn her fat instead of putting some more.Camile

Hay won't make her fat Camile, what happens if you feed too much bulk (Silage, haylage, hay etc) the rumen gets too full and causes the lamb to get squashed .. it puts pressure on and can cause prolapse problems and other problems too.

Hay is better than silage or haylage usually as sheep tend to browse it rather than chomp away almost non stop as they will with silage or haylage.

You better having best quality hay than dusty old stuff!

The book I mentioned before also has a section on how to get your ewe in breeding condition you will learn how to "score" their condition.

You'll learn as you go along

)))

IT's GREAT fun (mostly)

moonwind

Joined: 10 Sep 2006
Posts: 1140

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 06 11:42 am Post subject:

Camile wrote:

Hi Moonwind,

She's a Suffolk crossed with a black face:

And will have a look for that book ..

Thanks,
Camile

She looks a tidy ewe Camile (TIDY? .. I've lived here too long hahaha)

Her breeding should mean she'll do the job fine for you.

She looks a real cutie too, cheeky little madam

Since we have reduced down to our "handful" of critters they are all far too knowing as well, even the Carmarthenshire hill ewe lamb and they have a reputation for being nutters.

Animals are much easier to do, and much happier if they like being round you, apart from the odd beasts that are plain nasty or bullies, but you quickly learn to eat those or sell them asap.

Marionb

Joined: 27 Aug 2006
Posts: 5267
Location: Mid-Wales

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 06 12:19 pm Post subject:

She looks a real character, Camille!! Being a suffolk she should be a good enough size to cope with lambing no problem. We always put our ewe lambs (texel x) to the ram in their first year - most are born January time, sometimes we put March born lambs to the ram in Oct - Nov too but often they dont get in lamb.

Got our first 2 ewes due to lamb Xmas day... one is huge, we're hoping she'll have triplets as none of our ewes have ever had a triplet yet!!!

Hopefully they will lamb before Xmas day though as we are going to my parents for dinner and I dont want to be rushing back up to check on them every couple of hours!!

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