Skinny Ewe

[nolajennifer]

aloha all
we just got a ewe and she is VERY skinny.
she was on a half acre and that is about all i know about her. she came with another ewe that seems just fine. today i noticed some green scour but i am thinking it is because she is now eating lots of fresh grass which we have plenty on the 3 acres she is living on. she eats plenty, i had her checked for worms before the scour and it was fine. we have had her about 4 days.
she is the white one on the photo. not the best picture of her skinniness, however i can see all her butt bones in her backside.
mahalo for the help?

suggestions so far. pepto

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH. Glad you joined us. Hope you'll browse around and make yourself at home.

They both look pretty skinny to me... Since you had her checked for worms and she was "fine", IMHO the issue is most likely diet. Perhaps providing some actual goat feed/pellets/grain (start SLOW/gradual) twice a day to help her/them put on a little weight. I would also consider having some decent quality hay available to them 24/7. Maybe one of the old goat pros will chime in...

@Southern by choice @Goat Whisperer @frustratedearthmother @babsbag @OneFineAcre or any of the dozens of others...

 

[Southern by choice]

These ewes are malnourished it would appear.

If they are negative for parasites and coccidia I would suspect one of two things and perhaps both...
1st- dire need of good diet- forage and hay. Feed needs to be introduced very slowly. AND sheep minerals.
2nd- disease

They should be given a CD & T vaccine unless they have had it and you know their history.
Sometimes improper balance of essential minerals or lack there of can actually not allow their body to keep weight on even if they have been provided with all the right foods.

Since these are sheep I will tag some sheep people - I had sheep but they were a primitive breed and easy keepers- I think experienced sheep people would be better.

@norseofcourse @purplequeenvt @Sheepshape and I know there are many others I just am drawing a blank at the moment.

The scouring could be from the fresh forage it could also be bacterial.

 

[Sheepshape]

They white one looks very skinny, but bright, so I'd guess at a very inadequate diet. The scouring could well be the fact that she's getting greens for the first time in ages (if she doesn't have lots of faecal parasites).The scours should settle fairly quickly as her gut becomes used to the new pasture, but try to make sure she doesn't eat too much green too soon or she could get bloat.

I'd give her some dry stuff.....hay or silage and ewe nuts/grain etc, free access to hay/silage, but grain/nuts in small amounts initially as mentioned by Latestarter, or she'll get really bad scours.

If she doesn't gain weight , then she could have purely gut sited caseating lymphadenitis, but go for starvation for now if she has been food deprived!

Good Luck.

 

[Bossroo]

Just how old are these ewes and what conditions were they kept on ? IF over 4-5 years old, check to see how many lower front teeth they have ( sheep do NOT have upper front teeth, just lowers) . If just a couple or none, that is your issue and they are aproaching their end of lifespan. You could prolong this by throwing high quality and very palatable feed at them but how long they have is problamatic. If younger, increase nutritious high quality feed and check for other diseases and pisonous plants.