Sheep expressing milk 3 weeks early?? Normal??

Oh dear, here we go again. I have a sheep, Oreo, who is supposed to be due on April 27. I just tried to reach the farm she came from but can't get through right now - nobody's answering. So, can anyone with sheep experience tell me....

Is it normal for a sheep who is supposed to be due on April 27 to be expressing milk on April 6??!!

I didn't think she should be expressing THAT early. I know she can bag up early, but wow....

I felt her udder and it's firm but not shiny/tight. One little squeeze and the milk was flowing....

Still new to this, but something tells me that doesn't seem quite right for an April 27 due date.

Here's how she looks right now. This is looking kind of "advanced" for an April 27 due date in my opinion, but as I say, I'm still new at this...

is this a first pregnancy? are you sure of conception date?

my experience is with humans and goats, but i think it is possible.

her bag looks inflamed a bit.

doe she have a fever? if so, perhaps a duct started flowing and became infected?

again, do not overreact to this, no sheep experience. i would check for fever and behavior...listless? agitated? glassy eyed? responsive? and let those be your gauge of concern.

Nope, not a first pregnancy. She had a single, twins, and triplets in the past 3 years (not on our farm).

Not 100% sure of conception date. We bought her (and 2 others) as bred with dates. We know the people we bought her from and I'm trying to reach her now but without success. They use a marking harness so the date should be right, but the funny thing is it's right about 3 weeks (normal Icelandic cycle time) ahead of due date, which makes me wonder if she was in fact bred on the earlier cycle.

I don't know if she has a fever - she is not listless, and she is very responsive (i.e. when we were trying to catch her to feel her over). I'm just concerned about whether she might lamb tonight...

Some animals, including humans, can continue producing a certain amount of milk, usually a very small amount, for years after a single pregnancy...maybe she is just responding to late pregnancy hormones?

I went and visited a friend whose Southdown Babydoll sheep just lambed. The have twins ewes from one mother and a little ram from another. Seriously cute with little elf faces. She offered to sell one to me--they are from a closed registry--but I don't have the land! She is looking for a good home for them.

CATSCAN!!! How dare you tell me that!! I have been looking for babydolls. ARGH! You are merciless. I have the land, and the good home. Now how do I get one here?

Late pregnancy hormones....okay....maybe so, I'm trying to find online info re: how early they can start expressing. Her udder was pretty minimal at shearing 2 weeks ago. Now it's pretty...well....not minimal.

QUit it.. claire, I cannot keep up with you.. you are having babies everywhere.. lol.. I wanna babydoll too!! lol.. I am going to have to get a job though.. can't keep having all these I wannas and no job!
What are you gonna do with all those babies?

I do love hearing your stories though.

Fran, having a job is definitely helpful when one has baby animals! LOL! The sheep will probably become part of our fiber flock, and we might trade some with others in our area for different breeds. I'm interested in a Wensleydale, Teeswater, or Border Leicester, not to mention a Shetland. We know some other folks with spinners' flocks (i.e. nice fiber) so we might do some trading. If we have too many ram lambs....welll.....Kelly likes lamb chops. I don't.

Here is a nice picture that shows what the Babydoll lambs look like. Scroll though the lamb slide show on the bottom right. They have the most incredible little faces.

http://goosecreekbabydolls.com/

THUD (passes out from cuteness overload)

Good fiber animals--that is why my friend has them. You can hand shear them all by yourself:0)

I am so envious of your goats and sheep I could spit! Oh yes, that reminds me--your llamas too!

See, you just brought that up to make me jealous. Grumble....

I'll trade you a llama for a babydoll...

Have you guys seen the mini llamas? or is that the ???g?? name youv'e been talking about?? see I stay right there in memory don't I?

There was one this weekend.. a really nice very pitch black boy.. what a pretty color too... solid.. not gray or washed out.. just pitched black.

THOSE ARE ADORABLE! EVERYONE NEEDS A BABYDOLL! I could just hug and squeez the stuffin' out of that little thing. :D

Claire, you should get on the ISBONA email list and ask there. Do you want me to post something for you and let you know what they say? I'm not sure about this either - something's tickling the back of my brain but I can't remember the details.

I am an ISBONA member but I'm not on the list. Not sure how to get on the list really. Let me see if I can get in touch with the previous owner today - she home schools so I should be able to reach her at some point.

I just checked on Oreo and she's the same, no lambs.

Claire, I asked and someone said they also have had ewes that produce milk early, even as early as 4 weeks prior to lambing. They recommend not trying to get any milk out, and also make sure no other lambs nurse off of her as that may deplete her colostrum and she would have none when her own lambs are born.

Hope you can get hold of the previous owner - she can probably tell you if this ewe usually has this happen.

I'll D-mail you about getting on the email list.

Karen

Hi Karen,

I got on the ISBONA list this morning! Yay! I posted the question there. There are no other lambs in with her so that should not be a problem. We'll keep an eye on her anyway. This will be the 4th pregnancy for this ewe, so hopefully Lorraine can tell me what happened in the past with her.

Thanks!
Claire

Claire, did you get in touch with Lorraine? Looks like our messages crossed in cyberspace - sorry about that!

Karen

Got in touch with Lorraine! Yay! She said that Thunder wasn't even in the pen until late November, so no way that she could have an earlier due date. Of course, I suppose she could still have them a few days early, but not this early, so I'm basically relieved about that. I am so excited to see her young one(s) when they do appear!

I'll be sure to post pictures of course.

I'm still waiting for the right babydoll to come into my farm!

Claire

I've had goats drip milk early as well. Make sure the area she is in a clean area to reduce the chance of mastitis. I don't think sheep are as flexible as goats but we had one doe who had bag up early and she would drink from her own udder. You'd go out to the barn and she would have frothy milk on her chin. urggh!

That must be a relief to you.. at least a little breather..

??? could we compare shearing prices?? I know, no couth.. but think I need to go to school.. $40. to do Jester.. I will use scissors and not get any seconds.

$4 a head on the sheep
$5 a head on the goats
$20 a head on the llamas (barrel cut only)

I agree, I will probably use our hand shears next year on the llamas. I might even trim them a bit more this year.

I am very good and fast and in control grooming dogs and shaving cats with my oster A-5. I realize livestock is way different.. but I also believe confidience and control go a long way.. and owning the right equipment helps a bit.. lol.. and ownership allows you to really mess up. lol
I have lunny sis who is addicted to auctions (3x a wwek) in PA shopping for some shearing equipment.. her DH is finally happy they are not looking for wheels right now.. the attic and 2 rooms are full!

My DH would help a 72 year old farmer w/ his sheep shearing business and five years ago he charged $8 per sheep which included shearing, hoof trimming and worming. They earned every penny! You would be amazed on how many people would expect them to wrangle up their sheep instead of being in the barn. Let me tell you not all sheep are happy with the whole process; ducking kicking hooves and holding down a 150 to 200 pound squirming animal, so you don't cut them, isn't easy.

CMox
You can dmail a member called MaryE. She works sheep and can tell you what you need to know and then some.

Oh my.. I really never meant to even hint that it was easy.. nor that even the $40 was too expensive for what they do.. nor did I hint that I as a novice could do it better..
What I meant was.. I was willing to learn to do my own and make my mistakes on my own.. probaly learn why I would gladly pay the money.. lol.. no really, I want to be 100% self sufficiant.. no matter what.. I will call for help if need-be.. but I need to learn to do these things.. I plan on using my own fibers.. and hope I do not ruin any of it..

So please if I have offended any professionals out there.. sorry.. I just want to learn it.. myself.. I do have an open mind.. I will take all the hints and advice you have to give.. short of you blankly telling me to have a professional do it.

Oh yes, I should have pointed out that the prices I listed were....
1) shearing only
2) no worming
3) no hoof trimming
4) in rural Iowa (which probably does make a difference compared to, for example, the East coast)
5) no wrangling required really, just getting them into position for shearing. We guided them to the shearing pen.

It's hard work and I was surprised at what I considered to be the low cost, and I did tip him quite well in my opinion.

We'd like to learn to do it too, but that was our very first time and since we both work full time (until Kelly just lost his job recently), it was helpful to have it done quickly (as novices, we would take forever!) I think in the fall I might try the little angora goats myself, maybe a lamb or two? I thought for all the critters we had done, it was a very good price. If we were not both working, we'd probably do more ourselves.

No offense here! Sorry if it seemed that way-I was trying to type and do a sing-a-long at the same time w/ my nephew! I'd rather do things myself as well. For one, the animal knows you and will be more relaxed about the whole procedure. :-)
Life's too short to get offended!
You're shearer must have loved the way you were set up for him, Claire. It makes their job so much easier. I've tried to hand clip and it just wrecks havoc on my hands so we use clippers that we purchased through Jeffers. But I've never had the nice spinning wool on my ewes. Is it better to use the electric or by hand to keep the wool nice?

I'm so sorry to hear Kelly lost his job. My thoughts and prayers are with you both.

frans, we also have the Oster A5, turbo two-speed. we use it on the goats-it does a nice quick job.

really.. on fiber goats?? Like the angoras?? I thought I have to get the big fancy clippers.. do you think I can get the heavy matt blade and try it??

I use #10 blade on Saanen and Oberhaasli goats. The sannens have a coarser hair than the obies and it trims them up nicely. Not sure about the fiber goats, though.
I did a google search and found this site on trimming goats. http://www.goatsource.com/Newsletters%20PDF%20GS/February%202006%20%20Newsletter.pdf

http://www.westernranchsupply.com/body.php3?cat_id=3&sub_id=72
This site has every conceivable blades I think were every made! At least it seems like it! I found a mohair blade but I'm not sure if you can use it on the Oster. I would think that any place selling the blades or the clippers should be able to recommend a blade that would be appropriate for the fiber goats.