Ewes lambing down without milk

Username John

Hello all,

I have had a few ewes now lamb down without any milk. They come into milk after 12 hours or so, and yen seem fine once the milk starts flowing...

What's the cause of this? Is it dietary?

Thanks.

4512

Perhaps not enough protein. Anymore ya could try them with an 18% nut . . . what is their diet now anyway?

Username John

4512 wrote: »

Perhaps not enough protein. Anymore ya could try them with an 18% nut . . . what is their diet now anyway?

They're on an 18% nut.
I have soya bean meal, so could mix a bit more of that in.

4512

What breed/cross are they? It could be genetic

Username John

4512 wrote: »

What breed/cross are they? It could be genetic

Wouldn't think so, didn't have the issue with same ewes previously.

rangler1

Username John wrote: »

Hello all,

I have had a few ewes now lamb down without any milk. They come into milk after 12 hours or so, and yen seem fine once the milk starts flowing...

What's the cause of this? Is it dietary?

Thanks.

Do you give them Oxytocin, that usually brings them to their milk fairly quick, (if they're going to have milk).
Also if it was the diet, it's unlikely they'd have enough milk in 12hrs even.
Try Oxytocin...it's important for the lambs to get enough biestings

Username John

rangler1 wrote: »

Do you give them Oxytocin, that usually brings them to their milk fairly quick, (if they're going to have milk).
Also if it was the diet, it's unlikely they'd have enough milk in 12hrs even.
Try Oxytocin...it's important for the lambs to get enough biestings

Hi rangler,

Yeah I have oxytocin, give em 2cc of it. And they have always come into milk the next day.
They have a springing, it's more like they haven't let the milk down so to speak...

Have see a few cases of it before, but have had three case of it here now, and wondering what the cause is...

razor8

Had 3 in the middle of lambing like this but they were only ones. There's not much you can do only try oxytocin, I also find letting the ewe out to green grass for a hour or two also helps. I fill the lambs up and then bring them back in when ewe has her fill

ganmo

There's something about over fat ewes that slows the clearing of some of the hormones stalling milk let down. Saying that the ewes that have been slow to milk in the past at home I wouldn't of called fat

Englebert Humperdink

Hi. Had three ewes with twins and one with triplets yesterday. None had milk. Gave them 2ml Oxytocin and gave the lambs artificial colostrum. Ewes are on 18% E&L nuts since mid. January. They are slowly coming into milk today. What I want to know is what the hell is causing this. The ewes are in pretty good condition maybe too good. Is there anything I can do to stop this with the rest of them? Thanks

ganmo

over fat ewes can be slow to come into milk, the fat slows the clearing of some of the hormones
Not sure if that's the reason but that's what my book learning told me