Pregnant ewes driving me bonkers!

Fluffy_Flock

Overrun with beasties
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From that picture, it looks like she has already lost half her udder. I have not had any of my ewes experience that, but due to pictures posted during a goat's mastitis episode, half the udder turned black and fell off. If that is the case, she should be ok. Proceed with lamb/lambs as instructed by @Ridgetop.

Don't feel weird about back end pictures. I was posting on a thread about fertility of rams being directly tied to the size of their balls. We were all outside, taking pictures of our rams balls so we could post them. Yup, we are a little strange!
Omg that's hilarious! So is bunny's saggy belly an issue? She seems to grow down instead of out like my others.

I'm starting to see why the people I got these girls from got rid of them. I love them though. They all have something "special" about them.
 

Ridgetop

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So is bunny's saggy belly an issue? She seems to grow down instead of out like my others.

She may just be an older ewe. Like all us girls that have had a number of pregnancies those muscles weaken after a while. If she is on pasture or dry hay she may just have a large hay belly. A large rumen is a good thing in a sheep since it allows for more food to be digested which will sustain a pregnancy, growing fetuses, and a heavy lactation. Just watch her when it is time for her to lamb, and if she needs help, you can be aware and ready to help pull lambs. She should be fine, even with only half an udder.

While these ewes may have been the previous owner's culls, they are experienced ewes and will give you the experience you need as a new sheep owner. With luck they will not need any help lambing and you can enjoy them. You may find that these ewes produce well for you and give you the lambs you want. If so, there is no need to replace them. Just because the large ranch disposed of them doesn't mean they will not be good producers for you. It just means that the larger ranch was able to replace them with younger daughters and granddaughters in their breeding program.

If you want to improve your flock, instead of replacing your ewes I suggest you buy a good quality ram. Use him for several years, keeping daughters and granddaughters of the best ewes as your replacements. Then you can replace him with another good ram to use on those daughters. This is the cheapest and easiest way to improve your flock, plus you have the advantage of having a clean flock that has not been exposed to disease from another farm. Just make sure that the ram you buy is from a tested flock, and that you keep him separated from the girls for at least 2 months after bringing him on your property. That way if he brings any infectious stuff, you will only have to treat him and not the entire flock.
 
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