Wishful thinking?

[Latestarter]

Well, according to her post, she's about to start line breeding, with a son from her present ram.

 

[Baymule]

One of my ewes had such a nice ram lamb, that I am keeping him for one or two breedings. His sire was a Dorper, his Dam is a Dorper/Katahdin cross. One thing about it, if I don't like his progeny, I can eat them. After that, it's on to a Katahdin ram.

I have not been line breeding and I only keep one ram. So maybe I will be doing some line breeding, but I have 3 ewes that are not related to him.

 

[mystang89]

Ah, I couldn't tell if you had more than one ram or not. The guy down the road from us has 7 I believe but he also has over 50 ewes, maybe more. I did some line breeding with my rabbits with positive results but I wanted to stay away from it with my sheep which is why I wanted 2 rams - to keep the lines separate - but at this point I might end up doing line breeding. I could get an icelandic since I believe they are supposed to be good milkers as well but I'd have to re-research about they constitution. I remember there was one sheep that was a decent milker but not strong on the constitution side of things which is why I stayed away from them in the first place. Still, there are other options I suppose.

I thought I remember reading/hearing somewhere that Katahdin's were good with milk but maybe I mixed that up with "good for meat".

 

[mystang89]

Since I don't know when she was mated and don't know when she is due, can anyone tell me about how long in gestation before the utter starts to grow like in the picture?

 

[Baymule]

Some ewes bag up a month before delivery, some a week, so it is hard to tell.

 

[Sheepshape]

Look for other signs of impending lambing. Has she 'dropped'....i.e. is her belly looking sunken and hollows appearing either side of where the tail starts from the body. Are her 'ladies bits'.... OK.... is her vulva looking swollen...usually happens up to a week before birth. Any signs of a mucus plug?......hours to days before birth. Is she off her food and restless?.....imminent labour (though some sheep are off their food for a day or two and others, and I seem to have a lot of these, like a snack half way through their labour and eat very well before and after).

With regards to udder size....that can vary a lot. If a ewe has lambed before, then the udder can become like a pumpkin some weeks before, but some first timers only udder up at the time of delivery.

If she's pawing the ground and bleating to her rear....there'll be a lamb/lambs any minute.

Rams generally are no problem in the field with lambs or ewes giving birth.....but they'll be ready to mate with anyone who comes into season. Over here the rule of thumb is a 'mature' ram can impregnate up to 80 ewes (busy boy!) and a ram lamb or shearling up to 40. As I like my rams to come through 'tupping' still in fair condition, I think these numbers a bit too high.

 

[LndSchneid]

I was bringing in the sheep today and I noticed that one of their utters seemed larger than I remember it. It's kinda hard to tell cause of how much will they have but I tried to take a picture for those residential experts here who might be able to take an educated guess as to whether they believe this sheep to be potentially likely maybe pregnant or I'm simply desperate and see pregnant sheep everywhere like a conspiracy theorist see...... Well, conspiracies. I"think"that last picture is of my other sheep but I can't really remember. It was an uncomfortable experience for myself and the sheep lol. We're both trying to put it out of our heads.
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Definitely pregnant

 

[mystang89]

Look for other signs of impending lambing. Has she 'dropped'....i.e. is her belly looking sunken and hollows appearing either side of where the tail starts from the body. Are her 'ladies bits'.... OK.... is her vulva looking swollen...usually happens up to a week before birth. Any signs of a mucus plug?......hours to days before birth. Is she off her food and restless?.....imminent labour (though some sheep are off their food for a day or two and others, and I seem to have a lot of these, like a snack half way through their labour and eat very well before and after).

With regards to udder size....that can vary a lot. If a ewe has lambed before, then the udder can become like a pumpkin some weeks before, but some first timers only udder up at the time of delivery.

If she's pawing the ground and bleating to her rear....there'll be a lamb/lambs any minute.

Rams generally are no problem in the field with lambs or ewes giving birth.....but they'll be ready to mate with anyone who comes into season. Over here the rule of thumb is a 'mature' ram can impregnate up to 80 ewes (busy boy!) and a ram lamb or shearling up to 40. As I like my rams to come through 'tupping' still in fair condition, I think these numbers a bit too high.

Thanks for the run down! I checked her parts the other day and they weren't swollen or that reddish purple color. She is so wooly that it's difficult for a person who's never seen a sunken belly or felt for the tail strings to know any different ATM.

I have been watching her a bit more closely lately but she hasn't gone of by herself, still eating just like everyone else as well. There no mucus plug either that I know of but that tto would be difficult to see with her but hairy tail in the way.

I'll definitely update everyone if anything changes though. The wife, children and I guessed dates we thought she'd have her lamb and whoever is closest gets the privilege of naming it!

 

[Baymule]

I vote to name it Surprise!

 

[mystang89]

Quick question. I was reading a couple of parts by @farmerjan mentioning supplimenting a pregnant ewe with extra hay and/or grain. I haven't done that for mine so far mainly because she had seemed fine to my untrained eyes. However, should I be feeding her something extra and if so should I continue even after she has lambed?