I'm hoping to get some educated opinions here. I have a flock of ewe lambs. This was my first serious investment in sheep and purchased the group off of an experienced farmer in my state. However, I don't think that farmer took very good care of the sheep. I didn't know what too look out for at the time, but I did notice that all of their bottle lambs were at least 1/3 smaller than the lambs weaned off of ewes. I bought one to have a friendly lamb since none of the other sheep had been handled. I thought at the time that maybe this was just an issue with bottle lambs, but I haven't seen this to be the case based on my further research and observations. I also noticed bottle jaw in a couple of my ewes once they got home and the guy had a lamb almost dead of bottlejaw at his property. If I knew what I know now, I wouldn't have bought my starter flock from there. He also proudly said that he doesn't do any of the educational sessions that the association offered. Anyways, I have done some conventional deworming and natural deworming and I'm happy with the flock based on their famacha scores now. I have had them for about six months now. However, I am wondering if the bottle lambs all had coccidiosis because that ewe lamb is half the size of my other ewe lambs. I have heard that lambs that get coccidia badly and don't get treated early get damaged intestines and never gain well. All my sheep have access to the right forage and grain and most everyone else is increasing in size on a normal rate. She isn't sickly looking and she eats well, but just is very small overall. The ewes are getting scanned late this month, but I'm wrestling with shipping her if she isn't bred because she may just never may be "right." The flock is polypay. Can anyone offer their opinion?
To Keep or Not to Keep- Poor Do-er Ewe Lamb (Possible Previous Coccidiosis)
- Thread starter runaelle
- Start date
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
Is she just smaller than the others or is she also skinny/sickly? If she’s fat and happy, I wouldn’t worry about her size quite as much. Good poops or runny? If she is bred, she may have slowed/stopped growing because she’s putting more energy into growing lambs.
Bottle lambs are often smaller than their dam raised friends, especially if they aren’t fed a high quality milk replacer or creep grain. They usually catch up by 18mo-2y.
I put my ewes on a grain that contains a coccidiostat prior to lambing and that grain also goes in the creep for the lambs. This helps reduce the incidence of coccidia in the lamb flock.
You are correct about the potential for long term gut damage from coccidia.
I don’t usually breed my ewes until they are yearlings and if they don’t settle their first season, they usually get a 2nd chance (unless I decide I don’t like them for other reasons).
Bottle lambs are often smaller than their dam raised friends, especially if they aren’t fed a high quality milk replacer or creep grain. They usually catch up by 18mo-2y.
I put my ewes on a grain that contains a coccidiostat prior to lambing and that grain also goes in the creep for the lambs. This helps reduce the incidence of coccidia in the lamb flock.
You are correct about the potential for long term gut damage from coccidia.
I don’t usually breed my ewes until they are yearlings and if they don’t settle their first season, they usually get a 2nd chance (unless I decide I don’t like them for other reasons).
Alaskan
Herd Master
I think to keep her or not... is personal preference.
Your fears are valid.
But... no way to really know until you have her for a while....
If she gets wormy when they others don't... then I would sell her.
If she is small enough that you worry that she might be more likely to have issues lambing/getting lambs stuck... then I would sell her now. Lambing issues are stressful.
Your fears are valid.
But... no way to really know until you have her for a while....
If she gets wormy when they others don't... then I would sell her.
If she is small enough that you worry that she might be more likely to have issues lambing/getting lambs stuck... then I would sell her now. Lambing issues are stressful.
Legamin
Loving the herd life
Sadly there are consequences with bottle babies. The ones that get immediate colostrum and B12, CDT, Coccidia Oral/injection, F/U CDT and Worming at weaning….along with 2-3 hourly round the clock feedings (or automated system once they learn to use it) are usually fine. There is NO good or reasonable reason to remove a lamb/kid from it’s mother if it is able to get nutrition. That is the healthiest and most natural way to develop strong health and immunities. It is POOR PRACTICE to take lambs/kids off the mother and make bottle babies because they will be calmer, friendlier, tamer….etc. That is NOT being kind to the animal—who SHOULD be the first and only consideration.
But there are many sheep and goat owners who have convinced themselves that THEY can keep bad things from happening to their animals…and that vaccines and medications are ALWAYS overkill…(and I have seen those that go way too far with too many medications and intensive nutrition).
There are set ’best standards’ that apply to ALL sheep/goats. The basics. The things that happen to all animals eventually but can be headed off to help them get off to a strong, healthy, start with strong immunities.
Once and animal shows a developmental weakness or genetic weakness or disease there are only two ways to go. Grow it out as well as you can and sell it on for meat or for your own freezer. (Cull it) Or mark it with a bright paint spot and keep it marked for special nutritional needs and try to ’breed the problem out of the line’.
The former is ‘Best Practice’ on our farm. We are keenly interested in the genetic improvement of each generation of this rare breed. ANY animal that shows illness, poor development, defect or digestive weakness…including a propensity for worms…it is culled from the herd without any consideration for that animal as an individual. They are not pets…they are extremely rare pure bred sheep that will shape the future of all of my future generations of (hopefully not so rare in the future) pure bred sheep.
But that’s me… Not everyone keeps sheep/goats for the same reason. Many people are only interested in wool/hair, milk, meat (carcass size) and they are willing to take the time and try and breed through these issues or just keep them on for the wool/hair and milk. And as long as they serve that function, if you are happy with them and can afford to keep them despite their weaknesses…then you are a kind and gently animal owner who should not be discouraged from that practice. I admire that…but I won’t live long enough for that to pay off for me.
If you are leaning towards keeping them in your herd I recommend marking them all with a specific color of paint and keeping track of them for one year. If they show repeated illness or bloat or weakness…foot rot, worms etc. they are genetically inferior and will cost you extra time and money and attention that takes away from the rest of the flock. Eventually they ‘force’ you to keep, essentially, two flocks…the healthy and the ‘special’. Again…if you are the kind and gentle lover of all animals…God bless your strength and patience. But it is often better for the whole flock if only the strongest and best conditioned are bred back to increase the size and health of the flock.
Look for the traits you desire most and breed for those. If these animals cannot meet your herd goals they should be culled or set off as ‘pets’ and excluded at breeding time. If the ones you are concerned about are still young enough you might consider castrating…if not just keep them away from the others for ‘that month’. I know most of this is preaching to the choir but there’s my 2 cents!
Best of luck!
- Thread starter
- #5
Thank you all for your opinions and insight. She isn't sickly looking and keeps up with the flock mostly. She isn't wormy now at least. However, now that I'm starting to think about it more, she might be pushed out of the feed a bit due to her smaller size and that is a good point that if she did breed, she would slow in increasing in size. I sure don't want to have ewes that aren't producing ultimately and I do think that her size could make lambing a problem when bred to a normal Polypay ram. She was put with a Finn ram, so if she took, she would be matched in size a bit. Ughh, I hate making decisions like this when she was a purchased ewe. I will see if she took during the ultrasounds in two weeks and if not, I might just need to make the "good producer" decision.
