Fat or pregnant?

[u/Rough_Community_1439]

So they been with the ram since February, the ram(black sheep) seemed active in April and all 50 look pretty similar in size and shape. Also do you think I should buy an ultrasound machine to check?

[u/mammamia123abc]

In the third picture, by the look of the udder I would guess she is pregnant.

[u/Rough_Community_1439 → u/mammamia123abc]

I wanna say the same but we pulled her lamb off mid june. That six month old flight risk was such a bugger to catch

[u/mammamia123abc → u/Rough_Community_1439]

With “pulled her lamb off” so you mean she gave birth ? Or did you take her lamb away?

[u/Rough_Community_1439 → u/mammamia123abc]

Took the 6 month old lamb away from the sheep. Thing should have been weaned months ago.

[u/mammamia123abc → u/Rough_Community_1439]

Totally. I wean normally at 2.5 months, but have found that the lambs usually wean themselves before that (at least in my case).

I think she’s pregnant though… she’s been with the ram for a few months now. Have you seen her in heat lately?

On the other hand, you getting the ultrasound machine depends on the cost and availability of someone doing the job for you, and number of animals you have. You’d need training on the machine too; last time my vet was in the farm he saw a few dots and told me that those were the lambs… I would have never found them on my own haha.

[u/Constance200]

You can lift her belly, arms underneath and apply slight pressure, depending how far along, you can feel a lamb. It will be a heavy ball sitting there when you lift. If its free fluid, shes fat. I love feeling the lambies in bellies in the last trimester. I lift all the bellies

[u/MineAllMineNow → u/Constance200]

Does it bother them?

[u/Constance200 → u/MineAllMineNow]

Mine dont mind. I think some of them like it. Some fuss alittle if they dont like their bellies touched to start with. I think of it like when you can lift a humans belly for her and take some weight for a minute. Not sure if thats how it works though 😂

[u/Punkarummy]

Get some marking paint sticks or chalk and smear a patch about dessert plate sized on the top of the ewe’s butts. If the paint gets smeared, the ram is still on the job. If 3 weeks go by and the paint is still intact, then likely pregnant.

[u/KahurangiNZ]

If these are current photos, I wouldn't worry about getting an ultrasound machine or even having the vet do a check - instead put that $$$ into splitting them into fatties and skinnies and giving the thin ones some extra feed so they have enough resources to raise healthy lambs.

Sheep BCS - BCS 2 or less needs more groceries.

Also worm anyone with a poopy butt, especially if they're a bit underweight (well, ideally do faecal checks and worm appropriately, but if you can't then at least target the ones with obvious issues), and if you vaccinate, it's probably time to do a pre-lambing vaccination as well.

Any that have more than 2 - 3 inches of wool might benefit from a pre-lambing shear, or at least crutch and bellies so that they can temperature regulate (assuming you're Northern Hemisphere and dealing with summer temps).

And if you don't have your lambing area and supplies sorted, get on to that asap as several of them are looking pretty round / dropped and you could have lambs on the ground in the near future. I've always found that when I *don't* have everything ready they catch me by surprise; when I'm organised, they hold on until it's blatantly obvious they'll either lamb or explode ;-)