What could be wrong with this ewe?

[Beekissed]

Search for a site called Sheep 101. It has enormous amount of info on sheep from A-Z.

 

[lasergrl]

She is completely normal. The belly is lopsided because the rumen sits higher and is to one side, the way it is supposed to be. They will get that "hay belly" from alot of grass or hay. That is why fair sheep are only allowed a handfull of hay a day and the rest is grain. The bigger the belly the healthier the rumen. She is panting because her rumen is full and this causes heat. Great in the winter but not so much in the summer.
No edema (do you mean ascites?), just alot of groceries

 

[MuckBucket]

Thanks for all the replys, I'll check out the website. Is it ok to give her hay all the time, like she's grazing? Thats how we feed our horses so I assumed that since sheep are natural grazers that free choice bermuda would be ideal with a little bit of alfalfa in the evening. Thanks again!

 

[appychick]

If your ewe is over 4 yrs of age, you won't be able to tell much more than that about age unless you had correct reg. papers. At 4 yrs they are called smooth mouthed which means the incisors are level & all in wear. Unfortunately highly productive ewes like yours definately have a shorter lifespan. Make sure she indeed does have teeth on lower jaw in front as they wear down with age,depending how much sand they ingest. Supplement with some sort of higher quality feedstuff if she has access to good choice of forages while she is nursing & then when she is dry & open ,she won't require as many calories. I would recommend alfalfa but not sure of protein content of bermuda grass. High producing ewes can starve on grass if it is of lower protein & quality. Too much poor quality forage causes a pendulous abdomen & can cause her to rupture if she hasn't all ready. At her age & level of production,she would be one for the Guiness book of records to have gotten rebred 2 days after parturition. Glad to hear you got her out of that awful situation. Never realized those places were still around.....If you aren't in the breeding business,really wouldn't hurt to leave her open for a year to recooperate & then find an unrelated ram for your herd when the lambs matured.

 

[inohio]

I appologize if you already knew this, but the minerals for sheep are different than goats. If she's getting into goat minerals w/copper that would cause problems. If she's not getting the sheep minerals, she might be missing something there. They can run together during the day, but the goats/sheep need their minerals (and feed if there's copper in it) separate.

I recently saw an aged goat with a similar belly. The goat was healthy, just was the grandma of the farm and had a big rumen.

Good luck with her, she and the babies are adorable.