Always Something to Worry About

I am finding with the sheep that as soon as I think things are going well something crops up. This morning ram3 was looking like he wasn't feeling well. He was laying down in the corner and was not interested when everyone else was eating.

He has no fever or diarrhea. I gave him a dose of penicillin in case he is brewing an infection and a drench of oil in case he has a bit of bloat (though his stomach is nice and soft but a little tender to palpation.) He has gone outside a few times today but the one time I saw him nurse he only sucked a second or two. His poor mama's udder is getting huge.

If he is not nursing by tomorrow morning I will have to milk her.

When Leda's udder became engorged right before lambing I noticed that her right teat was smaller than the left teat. Now I think I know why.

I didn't know if she had lambed before I bought her. I now think she did and she probably had mastitis in the right side of her udder. She obviously has no milk production going on in the right side. I guess it's a good thing she had a singleton. She may not be able to produce enough milk for more than one lamb.  Now I have to figure out if she will get culled. Her personality is good but she has this ongoing skin issue and now her udder problem.