Re: [Blackbelly] Giving Birth
I have had more troubled experiences this lambing than ever before. My ewes were too fat. I was supplementing them and had hay out 24/7. They just do not have the milk production they should have had. I had green pasture for them to graze on until the last2 months of pregnancy. When I had a stomach blockage in one of my ewes she was autopsied and found to have a lot of kidney fat which indicated she was in very good shape. She just liked milk replacer since she was a bottle baby and got into a sack and ate the top tear strip off the sack. The tear strip lodged in her gut. One of my best ewes had triplets 2 days ago, and it appears that while lambing with the first, a dog or some predator attacked and bit the nose off of the lamb. She had 2 more lambs which appear to be premature, their teeth are not showing. One has problems with its front legs, it was laying sprawled out on its stomach. It cannot hold its front legs together. I made a vest to hold its shoulders together. Also made a sling to hold it above the ground and let it excercise to build up its muscles. I don't know if this is from trauma or just premature. The other lamb is having trouble standing to nurse, so I am supplementing it. I have a theory that has not been denied by my vet. If the ram is allowed to run with the ewes, it is possible to conceive in both horns of the uterus. However the fetuses are 15 days or more apart in development. When the early conception lamb is born, the others are born due to the contractions. This sometimes explains the triplets with one very small, or one very large. It may also explain the anomaly of 6 being born to one of my ewes when I sold her to some of my contractor friends who just let them run to clean up their storage yard. It seems that the harder I try to make a good environment for my sheep, and keep them well fed, the more trouble they have with lambs. I had 3 abandoned babies this time, and am raising them in a playpen and an outdoor pen. I had one set of triplets and penned them up with the ewe, only to have her lay down on 2 of them and suffocate them. The little lamb that could not seem to keep up with Mama is now her only one. She is going to have a new home in 2 months. Also any one who cannot raise her lambs or abandons a lamb will go. I am just getting too old to have this much trouble. My ram lambs are also going to either be neutered at 60 days or sold This lambing was not supposed to happen. It was from a bottle baby ram that we felt sorry for, and did not want to band him when it was so hot this summer... Cecil in oKla On 3/1/2012 2:14 PM, Natasha wrote: Old pics and movies of Blackbelly twin newborns. Click the links on the top like Angie, Ruby, etc for other ewes with their lambs. Great pics! I liked seeing how you dealt with the ewe who didn't want to nurse by putting her in closed quarters. Last spring my one ewe accepted the first born but hated the second and was always sending him flying. I struggled with her and would tie her to something solid and hold her head while her little guy nursed. I did that for several day and got a sore back. After that I bottle fed him. I don't think she would have accepted him - I tried putting her urine on him ( I read that in a book), put her milk on him trying to get her to accept him. She would put down her ears and just beeline for him to butt him. She used to be so sweet and nice and now she's quite miserable. She was a good mom to the favoured lamb. If she delivers this spring I hope she does a good job of being a mom this time. Is a ewe capable of withholding milk/preventing it from coming down? Never ending questions, Natasha :) ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Giving Birth
First rule of the animal kingdom: No good deed goes unpunished. That's the hardest lesson to learn...:0) Chris - Original Message - From: Cecil R Bearden crbear...@copper.net To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 6:11 AM Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] Giving Birth It seems that the harder I try to make a good environment for my sheep, and keep them well fed, the more trouble they have with lambs. Cecil in oKla ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Giving Birth
Cecil, So sorry to hear of all your troubles. Ruminants present a challenge, don't they. I am sure that you will get a lot of varying views on what to do. And I have only had 3 lambs, since we just got sheep. But I have been raising and milking Nubian goats since 1997. Two of my ewes are over-conditioned and the two of them had their babies, and have great growth in the lambs, one was a single(15#) and the other had twins(11# 12#). I was worried about their weight, but everything came out OK, and I will let them nurse longer to take off weight. Now, these are just thoughts, and please do not be offended by any of these questions. Are your sheep too inbred. Not having hybrid vigor? Have you ever had your hay tested? Is there a lot of farm chemical use around you? Do you have a good LOOSE mineral for the area out at all times? Not blocks, as I don't think that they can get the amount of mineral they need from a block, also it can break teeth. My vet also recommended to me, to put out iodized loose salt for my goats,( it is red in color) as she said they need iodine to make milk. But mine did not care for it much, as I had been feeding kelp. I do the same for my sheep. I feed twice daily. I feed 2ND cut orchard grass hay. If they don't clean it up, they get less in the evening. Twice daily, they get a pelleted feed, Ewe and Lamb developer 14% protein, but I don't give them allot of this, as my feelings for ruminants being feed concentrates, this is also milled for my area.. They need protein for milk and to grow kids. I give this 4 weeks before they are due to lamb, and while they are milking.. I also feed a small amount for 3rd cut alfalfa. 7 sheep get 2 flakes of alfalfa twice daily. Now, with dairy goats, if your feed program is lacking, that eventually you will have problems. Not that yours is lacking, just what I have heard. I almost hated to write this email as I have 3 ewes yet to lamb in May. All of my sheep are young, with none ever lambing before. My husband and I were just commenting about how easy sheep are to raise vs dairy goats. Good luck, and I know that I have written to you before, and believe that you live in Oklahoma or somewhere around there. Well must go for now, the girls are hollering to be milked. Liz Radi Nubian goats and Katahdin Hair Sheep Nunn, Colorado 970-716-7218 idaralpaca.blogspot.com ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Giving Birth
Michael, Actually, I don't have Blackbely. I have registered Katahdins. My two ewes that just delivered were 1/2 wooly and 1/2 hair, dorper I believe. I reread Cecils post. Mine responce to him was probably not very helpful. Liz Radi Nubian goats and Katahdin Hair Sheep Nunn, Colorado 970-716-7218 idaralpaca.blogspot.com --- mwsmotorspo...@gmail.com wrote: From: Michael Smith mwsmotorspo...@gmail.com To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] Giving Birth Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 07:29:25 -0800 Liz, those blackbelly birthweights are huge, compared to anything I have experienced in my two lambings. for me, a single at 11# is very large, and twins over 4.8# but under 6# are expected to thrive. -MWS Sent from my iPad On Mar 2, 2012, at 7:19 AM, Elizabeth Radi lizr...@skybeam.com wrote: Cecil, So sorry to hear of all your troubles. Ruminants present a challenge, don't they. I am sure that you will get a lot of varying views on what to do. And I have only had 3 lambs, since we just got sheep. But I have been raising and milking Nubian goats since 1997. Two of my ewes are over-conditioned and the two of them had their babies, and have great growth in the lambs, one was a single(15#) and the other had twins(11# 12#). I was worried about their weight, but everything came out OK, and I will let them nurse longer to take off weight. ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[Blackbelly] Lambing hay tests
I have had a horrible lambing season. For the first time in 10 years I had a large mortality in my barb lambs. They'd be born ok, although small, be up nursing walking around, then 4-6 hours later they'd be down dying. I had my hay tested and the selenium was immeasurable, 1.0. I have been supplementing with a mineral block but apparently that is not enuff so am getting a loose mineral with higher selenium vitamin E (helps them absorb selenium) and are resorting to giving my lambs shots of selenium. This is very difficult for me (although not as bad as 12 lambs dying) since I've always been proud of my American barbadoes not requiring shots and only need worming every couple years (I do fecal testing). For the small cost ($70 in Canada), it is worthwhile to test your hay so you'll know for future. Donna-Marie Williams Lake, BC ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Giving Birth
Well, I've had just a couple seasons of lambs now. My Blackbellies have had no problems lambing, they seem to do it with ease. But tonight, it is now 1:30 Saturday morning, my vet left about 12:45, after performing a cesarian section on one of my Finn Ewes. So, my ewe and her two new twins are in my basement. The reason we had a cesarian is she has toxemia, so I decided the ewe was more important, so we decided to take the lambs. They are doing ok, both are seven pounds. Now the hard part starts, I have to make sure they are nursing, but at the same time, mama can't stand up yet, so I have to shift her from side to side and if they don't nurse enough, I have to empty her milk so she doesn't stop her milk production. I'll be doing this every hour and a half through the night and tomorrow. Nancy L. Johnson imgr8a...@comcast.net cell: 301 440 4808 - Original Message - From: Cecil R Bearden crbear...@copper.net To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info Sent: Friday, March 2, 2012 7:11:40 AM Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] Giving Birth I have had more troubled experiences this lambing than ever before. My ewes were too fat. I was supplementing them and had hay out 24/7. They just do not have the milk production they should have had. I had green pasture for them to graze on until the last2 months of pregnancy. When I had a stomach blockage in one of my ewes she was autopsied and found to have a lot of kidney fat which indicated she was in very good shape. She just liked milk replacer since she was a bottle baby and got into a sack and ate the top tear strip off the sack. The tear strip lodged in her gut. One of my best ewes had triplets 2 days ago, and it appears that while lambing with the first, a dog or some predator attacked and bit the nose off of the lamb. She had 2 more lambs which appear to be premature, their teeth are not showing. One has problems with its front legs, it was laying sprawled out on its stomach. It cannot hold its front legs together. I made a vest to hold its shoulders together. Also made a sling to hold it above the ground and let it excercise to build up its muscles. I don't know if this is from trauma or just premature. The other lamb is having trouble standing to nurse, so I am supplementing it. I have a theory that has not been denied by my vet. If the ram is allowed to run with the ewes, it is possible to conceive in both horns of the uterus. However the fetuses are 15 days or more apart in development. When the early conception lamb is born, the others are born due to the contractions. This sometimes explains the triplets with one very small, or one very large. It may also explain the anomaly of 6 being born to one of my ewes when I sold her to some of my contractor friends who just let them run to clean up their storage yard. It seems that the harder I try to make a good environment for my sheep, and keep them well fed, the more trouble they have with lambs. I had 3 abandoned babies this time, and am raising them in a playpen and an outdoor pen. I had one set of triplets and penned them up with the ewe, only to have her lay down on 2 of them and suffocate them. The little lamb that could not seem to keep up with Mama is now her only one. She is going to have a new home in 2 months. Also any one who cannot raise her lambs or abandons a lamb will go. I am just getting too old to have this much trouble. My ram lambs are also going to either be neutered at 60 days or sold This lambing was not supposed to happen. It was from a bottle baby ram that we felt sorry for, and did not want to band him when it was so hot this summer... Cecil in oKla On 3/1/2012 2:14 PM, Natasha wrote: Old pics and movies of Blackbelly twin newborns. Click the links on the top like Angie, Ruby, etc for other ewes with their lambs. Great pics! I liked seeing how you dealt with the ewe who didn't want to nurse by putting her in closed quarters. Last spring my one ewe accepted the first born but hated the second and was always sending him flying. I struggled with her and would tie her to something solid and hold her head while her little guy nursed. I did that for several day and got a sore back. After that I bottle fed him. I don't think she would have accepted him - I tried putting her urine on him ( I read that in a book), put her milk on him trying to get her to accept him. She would put down her ears and just beeline for him to butt him. She used to be so sweet and nice and now she's quite miserable. She was a good mom to the favoured lamb. If she delivers this spring I hope she does a good job of being a mom this time. Is a ewe capable of withholding milk/preventing it from coming down? Never ending questions, Natasha :) ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at
