Any sheep farmers on here? Help needed with strange question.

[Patchworkpony]

One of my Shetland ewes (who is 2) looks rather fat and low slung and is producing some watery milk in quite well formed udders. BUT she hasn't been near a ram and we have proper fencing all the way round our land so short of a clever ram with a pogo stick I don't see how she could be pregnant. Is it a false pregnancy? I have never experienced this before in sheep. Don't want to call my vet as he'll just say there must have been a ram in the field at some point. Anyone else come across this scenario? Obviously I am keeping an eye on her anyway - just in case it was an immaculate conception!

 

[Wimbles]

Are there any wethers in the field? What age were the ram lambs taken out?

 

[Patchworkpony]

Are there any wethers in the field? What age were the ram lambs taken out?

There have never been any rams or wethers in the field as we have only ever kept ewes just to help with keeping the grass down. I'm too long in the tooth for lambing now so these girls are purely (very spoilt) pets.

 

[PorkChop]

I think it is possible for them to have a phantom pregnancy - probably often explained away as a slipped pregnancy.

 

[Wimbles]

I would probably have the vet out anyway as it doesn't sound like there's much chance of her being pregnant so it might be something more worrying like an ovarian tumour or something, really hope not

 

[Patchworkpony]

Thanks guys - I think it is probably a phantom pregnancy. We have just added some new weaned lambs so this may have triggered her hormones.

 

[Dry Rot]

Haven't got a clue but I do know it is possible to bring a nanny goat into milk by simply milking her, that is going through the motions of milking. Clearly, this would be a desiable trait and probably selected for by goat owners. Could the Shetlanders select their sheep for the same thing? I have no doubt they would have milked them on occasion in the past.

Edited to say that I wouldn't personally worry about it as it won't do any harm and will dry up if she is not milked.

 

[Patchworkpony]

Haven't got a clue but I do know it is possible to bring a nanny goat into milk by simply milking her, that is going through the motions of milking. Clearly, this would be a desiable trait and probably selected for by goat owners. Could the Shetlanders select their sheep for the same thing? I have no doubt they would have milked them on occasion in the past.

Edited to say that I wouldn't personally worry about it as it won't do any harm and will dry up if she is not milked.

I have spent a lot of time with the new lambs getting them halter broken etc. and she is clearly jealous so it is probably a ploy to get more attention. I so agree about not milking and I am not aware of this breed being used for milking. I had milk sheep years ago - lovely sheep but I couldn't stand the taste of the milk!

 

[jrp204]

Are you sure she doesn't have mastitis?

 

[serenityjane]

We have a goat, and have had a horse that have both done this in the past- cut back feed to bare minimum and do not milk as this will encourage more production. Just check udder periodically for heat/red/soreness as this may indicate mastitis. We actually put our goat in kid to try and break the cycle-she came into milk every year even though she had never been near a billy. She had two sets of kids and then at 8 years old we stopped breeding- she still comes into milk during the summer! It is the grass I think!

 

[Patchworkpony]

We have a goat, and have had a horse that have both done this in the past- cut back feed to bare minimum and do not milk as this will encourage more production. Just check udder periodically for heat/red/soreness as this may indicate mastitis. We actually put our goat in kid to try and break the cycle-she came into milk every year even though she had never been near a billy. She had two sets of kids and then at 8 years old we stopped breeding- she still comes into milk during the summer! It is the grass I think!

I think you are right - the grass just won't stop growing. She hasn't got mastitis as we did check for that.

 

[Carlosmum]

We had problems with ewe lambs developing udders, turned out it was the 'red clover' they were grazing. Apparently it contains oestrogens which stimulated udder growth in the lambs.

 

[mirage]

We had a lamb born on Burghley weekend,and my uncle who is in his 70's said he had never known it happen before. Ours lambed Feb/March,and has been in a field with no tups ever since. My uncle wondered why her bag hadn't gone down and couldn't believe it when he found a newborn lamb one morning. We assume someone's tup had escaped into our field through a hole in the hedge, and its owner had noticed, retrieved it and covered up the hole before we found it. We had a few Kerry lambs this year and we don't keep Kerrys so someone nearby does!

 

[FfionWinnie]

Don't draw her teats. She's just fat. Shetlands don't carry weight like commercial sheep they carry it round their internal organs which makes them have a belly.

If you draw their teats you risk introducing infection and causing a problem when there was none.

Fat livestock often develop an udder and that's from being fat as well. It's not anything to worry about at all.

 

[Fun Times]

Don't draw her teats. She's just fat. Shetlands don't carry weight like commercial sheep they carry it round their internal organs which makes them have a belly.

If you draw their teats you risk introducing infection and causing a problem when there was none.

Fat livestock often develop an udder and that's from being fat as well. It's not anything to worry about at all.

All I can say is thank goodness this doesnt happen to humans. Its bad enough that Im a bit fat, but if I started producing milk every time I dipped into the biscuit tin I think that would be just too humiliating....

 

[FfionWinnie]

All I can say is thank goodness this doesnt happen to humans. Its bad enough that Im a bit fat, but if I started producing milk every time I dipped into the biscuit tin I think that would be just too humiliating....

Ha ha luckily being a fat sheep is good!

I had a Shetland heifer a few years ago with an enormous udder. The only "Daddy" could have been her own sire so it wasn't ideal. Everyone who saw her thought she would drop any day. Scan man confirmed she was NOT in calf and was indeed VERY fat. She's had two calves now and her udder has never been as big as it was when she was just fat

I don't think it's really milk but like any animal which lactates, you can bring them into milk by drawing the teats regularly. I once fostered a Shetland lamb onto an eild ewe and since she wanted a lamb and didn't have one and he wanted a mummy and didn't have one they were both happy to keep trying until she had enough milk to feed him and he turned his nose up at my bottle.

 

[Patchworkpony]

Thank you all SO much for your comments. I have certainly never had this problem before keeping Shetlands. Lots to think about!

 

[debsandpets]

I keep a flock of Shetlands and have never encountered this before ................ If it were me I would get a vet check as it could well be something more sinister - although newly weaned lambs added to paddock could well have induced her hormones into thinking they are hers. Perhaps observe her and the lambs interacting for a little while before asking the vet - but beware of mastitis though as if nothing is nursing it is a likely outcome for her ............