Ewes not mothering lambs

Chev54 · Apr 21, 2022

Having terrible trouble with ewes not mothering or wanting their lambs, especially noticeable in the singles , some just drop lambs and go and others seem to lick them off and fine for a day then not worried either way if their lambs with them or not .

All ewes have lambed before and any that haven’t reared lambs in past are culls so then know what they’re doing and were fine last year, I’m pretty strict on culling out anything with bad mothering instincts . They’ve enough milk and the lambs are a tidy size, just can’t work out what the problem is. Could it be a deficiency? Any suggestions welcome .

MJT · Apr 21, 2022

I’ve read in the past that Cobalt deficiency can cause lacklustre maternal skills from the ewes .Could be something to look at.

Estate fencing. · Apr 22, 2022

Presumably you have cheviots, I have a few of those crossed with Texel's and are enough to drive me to drink, them seem to reject lambs at 2 days for no other reason than to wind me up.

Chev54 · Apr 22, 2022

Electricfencer said:
Presumably you have cheviots, I have a few of those crossed with Texel's and are enough to drive me to drink, them seem to reject lambs at 2 days for no other reason than to wind me up.

They’ve been great mothers for 20+ years, going to blood test as seems strange it’s only in one bunch.

Sheep92 · Apr 22, 2022

Electricfencer said:
Presumably you have cheviots, I have a few of those crossed with Texel's and are enough to drive me to drink, them seem to reject lambs at 2 days for no other reason than to wind me up.

Ahhh cheviots, brings back memories

Estate fencing. · Apr 22, 2022

Sheep92 said:
Ahhh cheviots, brings back memories

Kept some lleyn crosses out of them and they seem as bad, Iv just had to pen one that keeps walking away.

andybk · Apr 22, 2022

selenium and cobalt can have funny issues in ewes and lambs , soggy lambs , ewe problems , poor fertility , worth getting half dozen blood tested , its not expensive

Northeastfarmer · Apr 22, 2022

Electricfencer said:
Kept some lleyn crosses out of them and they seem as bad, Iv just had to pen one that keeps walking away.

I tupped some lleyn x Cheviot hoggs last year
Crap mother’s And sh!t lambs

Guleesh · Apr 22, 2022

There's a few cheviots here who don't seem to give a damn about their lamb beyond having the milk taken off them, basically unless their udders are bursting and the ewe wants relief then they're indifferent to their lambs.

Estate fencing. · Apr 22, 2022

Northeastfarmer said:
I tupped some lleyn x Cheviot hoggs last year
Crap mother’s And sh!t lambs

But your shite is probably better than my good lambs.

Chev54 · Apr 22, 2022

andybk said:
selenium and cobalt can have funny issues in ewes and lambs , soggy lambs , ewe problems , poor fertility , worth getting half dozen blood tested , its not expensive

Thanks for that And, hopefully shows something is wrong anyway .

Welshram · Apr 22, 2022

I had plenty of ewes not clean there lambs properly this year was fine with the lambs otherwise strange how so many people having problems could it be the weather or something changed in the cake ?

abitdaft · Apr 22, 2022

Chev54 said:
Having terrible trouble with ewes not mothering or wanting their lambs, especially noticeable in the singles , some just drop lambs and go and others seem to lick them off and fine for a day then not worried either way if their lambs with them or not .

All ewes have lambed before and any that haven’t reared lambs in past are culls so then know what they’re doing and were fine last year, I’m pretty strict on culling out anything with bad mothering instincts . They’ve enough milk and the lambs are a tidy size, just can’t work out what the problem is. Could it be a deficiency? Any suggestions welcome .

We have had a lot of issues with mis mothering this year. Sun shines, lambs fall asleep, ewe wanders off and forgets she has lambs or has lost count. What is your grass like? the further a ewe has to forage the further she goes from her lambs and the harder it is for her to come back to them. We have very little grass and as a consequence are having more issues with mis mothered lambs. Sounds like your ewes are more interested in looking for food? Just a suggestion.

Welshram · Apr 23, 2022

abitdaft said:
We have had a lot of issues with mis mothering this year. Sun shines, lambs fall asleep, ewe wanders off and forgets she has lambs or has lost count. What is your grass like? the further a ewe has to forage the further she goes from her lambs and the harder it is for her to come back to them. We have very little grass and as a consequence are having more issues with mis mothered lambs. Sounds like your ewes are more interested in looking for food? Just a suggestion.

It’s the ones that lambed inside so that can’t be the problem j

Farmer_Joe · Apr 23, 2022

Cull, think that would literally drive me to dispair lambing’s plenty hard enough without shite like that,

Miss mothering is the worst to, perfectly healthy ewe lamb that fine just needs feeding it’s the one thing I can’t stand, I tag em straight away for cull and if there really annoying they get profanities on the side of the ewe

Ewes not mothering lambs

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