ewe lamb is skinny

[Hillsvale]

I bought a horned dorset cross (don't know what the cross was) ewe lamb about 6 weeks about, I was told she was about 6 months old ... she hadn't been sheared or well cared for. Last weekend we had a guy come and clip nails, worm and sheared the couple of sheep that don't drop their coats... this little girl is skin and bones...

I bought her for my assistant who is having an engagement party in June... she is supposed to be the highlight of the affair (they are greek), does anyone have thoughts on what I may do to beef her up? Everyone gets hay (from a milk farmer) and they get about 1.5 to 2 cuts of ewe chow in the evenings... when we finally get a spring and thereby grass she will be roaming around after that as well.

Thoughts

 

[BrownSheep]

Best weigh to put on weight is to feed some grain.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Get a fecal done to see if she's got worms or coccidiosis and treat her if necessary. All the feed in the world won't matter if she's got parasites. Then, get her on a good quality feed and slowly start upping her grain until she's getting about 2 lbs per day. Make sure it's at least a 16% protein feed.

 

[Hillsvale]

Best weigh to put on weight is to feed some grain.

Ewe chow is grain.

Aggie... she has been wormed twice, once when I got her and once last weekend when the groomer stopped around to shear... maybe I will give all the younger ones more grain they are getting about 2 cups eachat bed time and see if that helps, you can never tell who's getting what.

The lambs will get preventative cocci treatment soon so I may do her as well.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Aggie... she has been wormed twice, once when I got her and once last weekend when the groomer stopped around to shear... maybe I will give all the younger ones more grain they are getting about 2 cups eachat bed time and see if that helps, you can never tell who's getting what.

The lambs will get preventative cocci treatment soon so I may do her as well.

It's cheap to do a fecal ($10-$15 probably), and you're on a pretty tight deadline (to get her to weight) it sounds like. Some dewormers are not effective, so it's best to figure out what kind of worms she may have, and find the best dewormer to combat them. Some people can deworm and not get any positive results if they use the wrong dewormer, know what I mean?

 

[Hillsvale]

Aggie... she has been wormed twice, once when I got her and once last weekend when the groomer stopped around to shear... maybe I will give all the younger ones more grain they are getting about 2 cups eachat bed time and see if that helps, you can never tell who's getting what.

The lambs will get preventative cocci treatment soon so I may do her as well.

It's cheap to do a fecal ($10-$15 probably), and you're on a pretty tight deadline (to get her to weight) it sounds like. Some dewormers are not effective, so it's best to figure out what kind of worms she may have, and find the best dewormer to combat them. Some people can deworm and not get any positive results if they use the wrong dewormer, know what I mean?

I do... the closest vet is not very close, I am off next week... maybe I will stalk her next week to get a sample and run it over, a test here is about 35.00. I think unless she turns around quickly I may need to send one of my older girls off to the butcher! :/

 

[Sheepshape]

It is sometimes difficult to find out why a ewe is skinny. I had a Blue Faced Leicester ewe (very large breed) who seemed fine year one, though a bit skinny (had a lamb).....fattened up a little after the weaning, then lost weight and became absolute skin and bone. Appetite always good to voracious, sister ewe quite chunky, wormed regularly with different wormers to take into account local parasites and resistance, also treated regularly for liver fluke(prevalent in these parts). She got thinner and thinner, bowels slightly loose,appetite excellent, no other obvious symptoms. No lamb that year as too thin to ovulate.

Then, with no change in her management, suddenly she started to gain weight. Became well covered, produced 3 rather large lambs last year and successfully weaned two of these (other lamb bottle fed).

This is her fourth year and she is now well-covered to chunky.

I have no real idea as to why she was thin for 12-18 months. If anyone can hazard a guess it is very relevant to this thread.

Resistance to wormers is always a reason for sheep not to thrive....but this would affect the whole flock rather than an individual animal.

 

[meadow1view]

I bought a horned dorset cross (don't know what the cross was) ewe lamb about 6 weeks about, I was told she was about 6 months old ... she hadn't been sheared or well cared for. Last weekend we had a guy come and clip nails, worm and sheared the couple of sheep that don't drop their coats... this little girl is skin and bones...

Some things to consider:

Her current problem is most assuredly due to mismanagement in the past. When an organism (human or animal) is malnourished, their health invariably suffers. I would be confident to surmise that not only was the lamb malnourished from birth, but so was the ewe (her mother). What happens to a growing fetus in the womb will affect it long term even after birth. Due to the lamb's suffering health, she will be prone to many illnesses (whether it be parasites, infectious, chronic, or acute diseases).

You will have an uphill battle with her because of her past. We have raised well over a thousand sheep and goats. We have had plenty of successes and failures (as everyone does) and what I have learned over and over is good nutrition is the foundation upon which success begins. I have purchased quite a few animals that were not in good health and some of them were able to be turned around and others were not. We have also learned that it takes several years to obtain real gains in health, depending on how malnourished the animal was when we started working with her.

What most people don't realize is that the ability to remain healthy comes down to maintaining a high metabolic rate (good thyroid function) and then providing adequate nutrients to support the cellular requirements. When the requirements are not met, cells begin to die and a whole host of illnesses and diseases can (and usually do) begin to show up.

When you feed grains (which contain high levels of polyunsaturated fats) to an animal, it will cause the metabolic rate to slow down (suppressing the thyroid) and open the door to inflammation and illness. The reason why so many believe that graining works is due to the increasing girth of that animal. The polyunsaturated fats in the grains are causing the animals nutrient requirements (dictated by metabolic rate) to be lowered, thereby, allowing more nutrients that are taken in to be stored as fat (which is not good for any organism). That is another reason why obesity is rampant in our society today - due to the consumption of all of the vegetable oils in our foods. Everyone and everything is what it eats.

Through misinterpretation, we are poisoning ourselves with fats meant for lower temperatured organisms. Organisms with a high body temperature can consume saturated fats with no harmful side effects. The accumulation of unsaturated fats in the tissues of warm-blooded animals progressively lowers the metabolic rate, increases damage from the toxic form of oxidation (lipid peroxidation), damages the heart, lungs, and liver, promotes diabetes, cancer and immunosuppression, lowers our resistance to stress and shock, and harms development. Ray Peat - PhD

In conclusion, your lamb may or may not recover from her former abuse. An animal that has lacked proper nutrients during early growth will require higher nutrient levels (than a healthy animal of her same age) later on to try and compensate for the deficiency earlier. That is the battle you are fighting (on top of worms or whatever else ails her).

Best wishes for you, your lamb, and the engagement party.