Pregnant Icelandic Ewe - need help predicting birth.

I need help with predicting when Bianca is likely to lamb. Our shearer was here on Monday and he said she was "starting to look close" and when I told him our others are due April 27, he said Bianca would be before that. When he sheared her, her udder was not like it is today. It was a little pinkish and slightly rounded, but today when I got home, it is much bigger. I can't get it to express any milk but it is quite firm (but not shiny).

I know about goat birth and the goat ligaments and I know what they feel like. Do sheep have that same thing? I felt around her tail and can feel no ligaments at all (just like Stuffin prior to her birth).

Our shearer also said we would notice a color change in her vulva area to bright pink. It is bright pink now.

I am concerned because if she lambed tonight, it might be too cold and maybe I should bring her inside? How far off do you think she is if you have experience in lambing?

And please, please don't anyone be offended by pictures of a pregnant sheep. I really do need advice here.

We do not know when she was bred. She is an Icelandic and they are seasonal ovulators. She was running with a ram when we bought her in late fall. If we knew her date, I wouldn't have to ask about this, but we did not breed her - she came to us bred.

Oh, by the way, the shearer (who has 30 years in the sheep business) said she looks like she has twins.

In this picture, you can see the angle of her back, which to me looks similar to the goat did with her impending birth.

Here is her udder as of about 10 minutes ago. You can see the sides of her sticking out. I believe the babies have dropped (similar to goat also).

Finally a closer shot of udder and note change in color of vulva which is normally not anywhere near that pink. It is a sign, but I don't know if they get darker than that or if that is as dark as it gets. I don't know whether her udder is likely to get a lot bigger.

Just trying to do my best to be there for the lambs and for Bianca herself.

Looks ready to me but I know nothing of lambing.. I watched our cow give birth to twins last june! It was awesome!
Good luck and keep us posted.

Looks close to me, but I'd think her bag is not quite ready... if you can't get milk, I'd say another day.. I would think she would either have the wax or leaking milk when she is ready..

I do NOT know sheep.. I know horses...

This is just a GUESS...

It does look like it could be anytime. Do sheep tend to give birth at night? I know even here in CA they worry about early spring lambs getting chilled if they lay out all night. I would bring her in, if it won't upset her.

forgot second udder shot

After doing some reading.. I'd bring her in. LOL

Doesn't seem to me that this is her first.. Might pop out faster with less warning..

Yikes, what did you find to read? Can you send any links?

I will email you.. they are graphic

Thanks ZZ, that was a great link! Lots of good information. At present, it appears that they do not have the same change in tail ligaments as goats, so that is interesting. I'm going to keep checking on her. This is exciting, but it could still be a few days yet I guess.

This is very interesting..

I love guessing when, etc..

My guess is not tonight.. but not a few days either..

Can't wait for pics!!

Just checked on her - she is still with the rest of the herd. Apparently she is most likely to go stand off by herself when she is ready. I hope she does not go tonight.

I hope she gets some good sleep.. :)

One thing is for sure she has a wonderful udder. Great attachment and nice size tits and good position of them too. Icelandics are known for twining, just provide cover and she will get the babies to it once they have bonded. Don't worry about the weather, you have to stop and think about the type of weather this breed of sheep have had to birth in. Iceland is known for sudden burst of winter storms. Icelandics like to separate themselves from the herd when they are about to birth. Then once they are bonded they will rejoin the herd.

Check out their web site: www.ISBONA.com You will find lots of information and maybe find someone close or you could just e-mail some of the members for help with your questions.

Good luck and don't forget to post pictures of the babies.

Janet

Thanks Janet! I didn't know that about her udder! She definitely has cover. It is supposed to be 32 tonight with possible rain/snow mix, but not amounting to much, so hopefully they'll still be OK if she lambs tonight. I am hoping she will wait a day or two, or at least lamb in the daytime.

We are ISBONA members and there is another farm in our general area but it was a little late for calling her. I will call her tomorrow.

Anxiously waiting a report Commander Moxon!

Sheep obstetrics department reports successful twin birth this morning.
Ewe lambs Calypso and Clipper are doing well, as is mother Bianca.

Ah HA!

Calypso looks like she is wearing eyeliner. Kind of unusual.

Here is Clipper.

Oh how cooooooooool is that!!!!!! They are darling!!!!! Oh yeah!!

Wow.. I'm smiling soooo big right now!

Congrats!

They are beautiful! Most awesomely beautiful!

I just checked on them again. They are doing very well. They are both still actively nursing and exploring their surroundings - one of them even did a little hop thing, which was so cute I nearly had to sit down.

We have 4 sheep yet to go - Oreo, Clover, KitKat and Poppy. They're not due until end of April, early May, and likely late May for Poppy.

Congratulations! She must have been bred right around the end of the first week in November.

It's really hard to tell when an Icelandic is going to lamb going by their udders alone. I had one ewe that developed a huge udder, so big she waddled around it, and she was like that for a couple weeks before she lambed. Others don't get as big. Bigger udders don't necessarily mean more milk.

Sometimes they just surprise you. But usually the vulva gets really soft and sort of flabby looking as everything relaxes in preparation for birth. In early labor, they may go off feed (or not), walk around, paw the ground, lay down, get up, occasionally strain as if they need to pee, etc. The babies do drop, so that is a sign too, as you noted.

Here's a pic of an ewe I had, about five minutes before she went into active labor.

Gallesfarm - what a great picture - definitely Bianca's udder never got that large. It's amazing the differences between the different ewes. When we went to bed last night, she was still with the herd. This morning by 8 am, they were both born! I think they had not been born more than an hour before that though. I really need to feel her tail ligaments soon and see how they feel now that the birth is finished. I want to get a sense of how they feel normally, because that was the most timely sign on our goat, and was very obvious.

Your ewe is so very similar to our Kitkat!

And here is Kitkat this week after shearing. The shearer predicted triplets for her. She isn't due until April 27 and she is HUGE already!

Love those moorits. I don't have Cozette anymore, or Orange, who was the one with the really huge udder. Here's a pic of her. It's not a good pic of the udder but you can sort of see where the teats are. I think it actually got bigger than this before she lambed. Orange was built like a tank, wide and low to the ground. I wish I still had her, but I do have one of her daughters anyway.

Wow.. now that's a great pic! Not often you can catch them just before labor..

I kinda felt she would be a "quickie" after reading and seeing what a first timer looked like.. This is so interesting.. I really enjoy learning new stuff.. :) Not to mention baby pics!!!

Be interesting to see if your shearer is right. I have one ewe that looks like that even when she's not pregnant. :-) See below (taken last fall). I hope she is pregnant now but it's really hard to tell with all that rumen sticking out!

This is making me feel really slim! LOL

Wow, Orange was beautiful too. She really was built like a tank. I bet she would have been a good dairy sheep for making sheep's milk cheese. The other one who isn't pregnant? What can I say....wow!!! She needs a wide load sign on her!! LOL!

Beautiful babies. Congrat.

CMoxon: Do you know how old your ewe is? Has she lambed before? Do you know anything about her blood lines. All of this plays into the type of udder she has. But for now she is showing great attachment which is what you want. When there is good attachment the udder won't break down over time.

Gallesfarm: Great looking ewe you have, don't be surprised if she should come up with quads.

It isn't wonderful to have those sweet faces and then the babies just crack me up with their play times.

Thanks yall for sharing pictures.

Janet

SO can we twist this a little to goats. We don't know if the angoras are pregers, but they have been with the buck since October. I know he has bred with 2 of them since being here. One of the does, we call her orange. She is as round as can be.. But, when you feel her it is all fiber.. her teats are puffy, larger than the other girls.. she eats like a pig, pees constantly.. but no milk. A few of the others are getting a little larger too, but nowhere near her. Every pic I take, she just looks like an angora goat.. you can't see fatso.. lol

shes on the far left front

They look so sweet.

Janet - the shearer looked at her teeth and said she was 2. We don't know if she lambed before but he said possibly not. We got her from somebody who had 5 of them, and then 2 bad things happened - two of them were killed by a pack of 3 Saint Bernard dogs who had escaped from some sort of breeder, and then the neighbor with whom he shared a water supply cut him off. So, he had 3 remaining sheep and no water. We bought them at a fairly good price, but they are sadly unregistered. He said they were registrable because he had bought them from a registered flock but he had no records. We liked them in any case so we bought them anyway. Our other 3 Icelandics ARE registered and from Hedge Apple Farm in Earlham, Iowa.

I can't wait until the babies really start to play - right now they are in their slightly stumbly phase, which is also incredibly cute.

Meadowyck - if you mean the white ewe, that picture was taken last fall. She was not pregant then. She looks like that normally. I hope she is pregnant now, but she looks about the same, except woolier of course.

Loving this thread!! Beauties!

Congrats on the new babies, C!
Doin' the lambada for you...
=0) Jay