Lambs Grinding Teeth?

Hello! I recently picked a couple of lambs from a breeder and had some questions about their behavior. I've been around sheep a lot but never owned them, and I haven't been around lambs much. The two I picked are both bums and I plan to hopefully breed them for wool. They're about a month old now.

We were out to see them about two weeks ago, and we were playing with them and just letting them get used to us. I know that they grind their teeth when they are in pain, but there was nothing wrong with these two. They would stand there and grind, I had to pick them up a time or two and they'd do it, and it was really really loud. I was concerned about it and haven't found an answer yet. I hope we didn't hurt them, but I just don't understand why they were doing it. The female had a goopy eye but we took care of it, and she had a small sore on her lip from the bottle that bled a little, but other than that she was ok. The male is just fine, and he actually enjoys being held. I'm not sure what the deal is here.

Any ideas? We will being seeing them again in about two days and we'll bring them home in a few weeks. Thanks!

Grinding teeth in goats and lambs usually means they are in pain so I would look at their diets and make sure they had their CDT shots. In the few instances I have had goats or sheep grinding their teeth they usually had belly pain. Why would the lamb have a sore on its lip from a bottle? Are you sure it isnt soremouth? Is it kind of scabby looking and crusty? Also check out the goopy eye because you don't want to get home with a couple of sick lambs.
Good luck!

Thank you @Ridgetop. They haven't had shots yet as far as I know, but it was getting close to their nursing time so I wonder if they were just really hungry?

I don't know why it would have been from the bottle. The guys that take care of them told me because I was concerned and they said they were keeping it clean and checking on her. It was just a scab at that point on her lower lip/chin, and it opened up and bled a little. She had the goopy eye since I pulled her off another ewe. (Her mother had triplets and died, and the other ewe had my lamb and three others trying to get milk.) It was mostly all dried up stuff underneath the eye, no new discharge and she seems ok. They said they were watching that too.

Scabs on lips and chins can be soremouth which is a disease you dont want to bring home. It gets into the soil and will infect the rest of your herd. It is common in certain areas of the US. Look up soremouth on line and compare the pix to what you remember. If it looks like soremouth don't buy the sheep. You will bring home a disease you won't be able to get rid of. Ask if the breeders have ever had soremouth. What did the ewe die of? Have they been docked?

With our sheep, we dock around a week old and give tetanus which gives immediate protection. At the same time we give CDT which prefers long term protection. 30 days later we give the 2nd CDT which is good for a year. if the breeder has docked without vaccinations I would be leery of him. If he hasn't docked, I would worry about doing it now at 1 month. Something isn;t right about this lamb. Be careful.

I will be off line for a week - no computer access. I hope someone can come on here and help you.

Oh no I hope it's not sore mouth! It's not anywhere near as bad as those pictures, just the one little spot but I'll ask for sure. The foreman, (who's basically our uncle at this point) said he will dock ours and give their shots before we come and get them. The rest don't get weaned or anything until September because this when they ship the ones they don't want. The ewe died of mastitis the same day we came to mark them, she was the females mother. The male came off another ewe that didn't want him or something, and now his new ewe wants him and he's just fine.

The ewe the female is on stomps her if she isn't tied up. Even if she's tied the lamb isn't getting enough milk which is where the bottle comes in. I've gone in the pen to tie her and she fought me, she's not a nice ewe. There is a very long story behind why they are waiting that long to do anything with them until September. The foreman and all the guys that work there are from Peru (they're so sweet we love them to death), the actual owners are not nice and are cheap. Anyone in the area that you talk to will turn their nose up. That should explain it pretty well if you can guess the rest.

Well thank you for everything. I'll give you an update when you get back if you want. Have a good week!

Hi Lamb Lover: Back from my trip. What is update on lambs?

Oh hi Ridgetop, sorry I didn't see this until now! Did you have a nice trip?

So the lambs, not good. Georgia does have soremouth and I cried because it upset me a lot. We are going to get another female bottle baby, and then try and find our male. If we can't we're going to get another new male. I won't see them for about three weeks at best as my mom and her professor who sets dates for us to go see them are currently in Peru. As soon as I hear something I'll let you know.

Just a note on the sore mouth....usually it is no big deal. Most people who show have it in their flocks. It usually crops up during lambing season, infecting all the new lambs, but then they have immunities against that strain or strains and generally don't get it again (they can get a different strain)

We have/had it in our flock for years and it used to be that every single lamb got it, but over the last few years I've noticed fewer and fewer lambs getting it. There were only one or two that got it this year. I think that the virus we have is either losing strength or our flock has built up immunity to it. We have added some new sheep lately that have not contracted in though.

I say that "usually" sore mouth is no big deal because that's generally the case. There are strains or cases of the virus that are particularly bad were some of the animals end up dying when they can't or won't eat due to pain or they get a secondary infection.

So purplequeenvt, if we were to take her home once she's better would you say her quality of life would be ok? She wouldn't be in pain or anything? That's what we were worried about. She would be in pain and it wouldn't be worth keeping her going. If she's ok then I guess we take her home if not, she gets shipped out.

Lamb Lover said:

So purplequeenvt, if we were to take her home once she's better would you say her quality of life would be ok? She wouldn't be in pain or anything? That's what we were worried about. She would be in pain and it wouldn't be worth keeping her going. If she's ok then I guess we take her home if not, she gets shipped out.

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In life-long pain from sore mouth?? They are in some pain (not sure how much, depends on the case) while they have an active infection, but once the virus runs its course, the sheep is fine. Most cases, you can never tell that they ever had it. We've never had to ship a sheep due to sore mouth.

I wouldn't reject a sheep based on sore mouth. I wouldn't bring it home until after it was healed from an active case, but after that, I'd have no issues bringing it home.