# lots of "fluff"



## spinandslide (Jun 6, 2008)

Since everyone is such a wealth of knowledge and is patient with an igidt like myself..

After speaking with a friend who knows sheep, I was told to check the belly on my ewe...that if it was "hard" she was likely bred..I just didnt see the ram cover her..which is a possability, as I work outside the house.

So I did just that last night..but she has so much FLUFF it is difficult for me to truly know if Im feeling and seeing fluff versus baby belly..or heck, even just fat? and what constitutes a "hard" belly?:stars:

I hate asking this..but look at these pics..do you see fat, fluff or pregnant..if you can tell at all? she has got ALOT of fluff..even more then the ram and I dont know why (she is 3/4 dorper and 1/4 Kat)

From last night..eating, as if she is not distracted she follows you around and is a general pill to take a picture of..


















for comparrision..late December









Late Sept









So, my question is..is all that fluff indicative of a problem? or is it just "her".. 

How the heck can I tell if she's bred when she has so much fluff and I have a vet who doesnt do a whole bunch with sheep..(you obviously cant palp them like cattle and horses..can they ultrasound them?) or do most producers just wait and see if a lamb pops out? Im not a hovering type person...heck, my cattle are due in a 2 month window..BUT, Id like to have a general idea if she IS bred, so I know to be keeping half an eye on her.

AND..finally..is she to fat? I do not feed these sheep alot, but DH says they are butterballs...the ram has always been a tank..the ewe, as the picture shows, was very petite..but this winter she grew..

Im just abit frustrated..as I can eyeball a mare or a cow..andpretty well KNOW they are bred..but Im having trouble with sheep..

Her half sister is currently bred..I saw her last weekend and she looks kinda round in her belly..but she would have been bred earlier then this ewe could have been...

I know this is hard to do over the internet and thru pics....would just appreciate some sheep people insight while Im getting in touch with my vet to see what options I have to preg check a sheep that he offers..

Sarah


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

I've been raising sheep for years, and I can't tell if a ewe is pregnant just by feeling their bellies. With multiples, usually triplets, but sometimes with twins, you can often see the lambs moving within the ewe during the final month, but with singletons, and occasionally with twins, you don't see that movement. 
I usually have to go by the bag/vulva connection. Usually, at about the same time as they start to have a swelling in their udder, they also start to undergo changes in the vulva (color, tautness, etc.) However, this doesn't usually happen until the last month. Then, there are the ligament changes that usually happen in the final week/s of pregnancy. But how to tell if a ewe is in early/mid pregnancy without a blood test? I personally can't. A fat ewe can feel just as tight and hard or as soft and gushy as a pregnant ewe as they don't carry the lamb/s in front, like a human carries a fetus.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

The only way I've found to be SURE they are pregnant, short of lab tests, is to see the udders fill, or see them give birth.


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## spinandslide (Jun 6, 2008)

So, just watch this ewe's bag and vulva will determine 1. if she's bred..and 2. about how far out she is, approx?


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

That's how we do it, and still one will occasionally surprise us if we're not attentive!


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## VA Shepherd (Dec 26, 2010)

I agree with the bag/vulva advice-- not easy with that big tail! She's a pretty girl, fluff is good!

As for whether or not she is too fat, I was taught to feel their backbones. If you can't feel her spine, or just barely, she's overweight. They'll grow a layer of fat in a kind of saddle over their backs. If she isn't pregnant, that may happen if she's getting the same diet as lactating ewes. And, to add to the confusion, a really fat ewe will often develop a little bit of an udder even when she's not bred. The main concern with a fat ewe is that when she does get bred, it may cause some problems at lambing time; the fat can constrict the birth canal. 

I do have a couple of vulva shots in my photo files; not the ones I usually share with people, but for educational purposes....

This is Angel, an Icelandic. With her it's easy tell because of the belly (she had two TINY lambs, believe it or not), but her bag is mostly full and the vulva is swollen. She delivered about a week after this was taken.










And this is Maia, a Black Cotswold. That's a much larger breed, very deep chested, and they don't always get very big around. She delivered about 12 hours after this photo. In that time, her bag doubled in size, that's a sign of imminent lambs! Her tail is a little TOO short, but it does make it easy to see what's going on. Her vulva looked like this for about a month ahead of time, that's a good sign she's bred, her bag was like this for about ten days; the sudden filling of her bag means I'm in the barn every hour checking on things.


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## spinandslide (Jun 6, 2008)

the pictures were very helpful, thank you!

I guess I will check her backbone when I get home tonight...as I said, she has major fluff going on..its hard to get an actual read on whats going on sometimes. its just her and the ram..no lactating ewes..her breeder told me it doesnt take much to get one fat though. Ive been trying to monitor their weight. I did up their feed abit during the two weeks of BRUTAL cold we had..with snow and ice..but they are back to normal..coastal hay and alittle alfalfa pellets. I imagine once she shed Ill get a better gauge of where she is at, weight wise.

I did reach up to feel her udders last night, which she did not appreciate, but they are still sucked up tight against her belly..did not look at her vulva.

Shes been with the ram since mid November..but not sure if shes even come into heat yet.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

As a good guide for when feeling the back bone feel the back of your hand. Your hand needs to be loose (not in a fist) and what you feel when you rub it is what you should be feeling on the back bone. I personally like my ewes a little bit more fat just before lambing if I think that they are going to have more than one. 

As too being able to look and see if they are pregnet, I thought one ewe wasn't bred last year and walked out to the barn to see 3 12 lb babies with her in the pen. I sometimes can feel the babies move but only with LARGE twins or trips.


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## spinandslide (Jun 6, 2008)

OK, I checked under Dottie's skirt this weekend..she really did not care for it..

She definantly looks more "developed" then I remember her looking when I last saw her.. mature looking..but not "swollen" to me at least,.

Do ewes get nosiy when they are in heat like some cattle do? she has been nonstop..driving me nuts.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> Do ewes get nosiy when they are in heat like some cattle do?


Mine seldom do

And I was surprised with a lamb this morning from one that I had NO IDEA was pregnant.

She had a single 5-6 lb ewe and if the dogs hadn't been barking so much I wouldn't have found it when I did

( I KNOW I'm *supposed *to have pictures....the batteries are charging !!)


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## VA Shepherd (Dec 26, 2010)

Mine either, they save their energy for tail wagging. If she's in heat and still with the ram, you'll see some action. They'll graze closely together, and he'll mount her several times during her cycle. She'll wag her tail and stand still for him to hop on board; he'll lay his cheek along her flank, whicker or grunt, and nudge her with his shoulder before making his move.


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## eieiomom (Jun 22, 2005)

spinandslide said:


> Do ewes get nosiy when they are in heat like some cattle do? she has been nonstop..driving me nuts.


There are a few in my flock that announce very noisily when they are cycling.
And then there are bred ewes that are really noisy too, when getting close to lambing...

Deb


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## spinandslide (Jun 6, 2008)

great...
guess one day Ill just come out and there will hopefully be a lamb in with her.


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## notasnowballs (Dec 28, 2010)

VA Shepherd said:


> Mine either, they save their energy for tail wagging. If she's in heat and still with the ram, you'll see some action. They'll graze closely together, and he'll mount her several times during her cycle. She'll wag her tail and stand still for him to hop on board; he'll lay his cheek along her flank, whicker or grunt, and nudge her with his shoulder before making his move.


Mine was a first timer this last fall. I borrowed a Columbia ram and he did all that, and I saw him jump on top of the ewe, but only for a second before she took off. I never saw any mounting that I would say is "successful", and he rubbed the marking chalk off, but I didn't see any on the ewe! Hard to tell if she is bred. What I did see when I first introduced them for about a week and then NOT for the rest of the month they were together were these signs:

1. The ram would approach the ewe, nudge her in the flank, make that "nicker".
2. The ewe would pee. He would smell the pee, then do that Flehman response, where he curls up his top lip, rolls his eyes back, looks like he had a really good fart, or he's in utter ecstasy. Funny as heck.
3. He would try to jump on right after. 

Now this tells me, from my unedjumakayted eye... that the ewe was in fact, in heat. And that Mr. Rammy knew how to take care of business. It does not, however, tell me if I'm going to have baby lambs hopping around the paddock come March. 

Sure would be nice to know. 

He might have tagged the younger ewe, too, but I'm hoping not till next year. They are both eating like crazy, but they are always "starving", anyways, so who knows? They are not fat, they are not skinny. They are plenty wooley, and I don't see any vulva or udder changes, but it is only the end of December and they would have been bred on Oct. 1.


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