OK, I guess I'm slow. The udder did not LOOK red or painful, but once I actually cornered the ewe and tried to milk her again, I found that the udder is quite hard and there is definitely no milk coming out. I just checked the archives and have concluded that this most likely IS mastitis. I plan on giving the ewe a shot of penicillin, and I would like to know more about the LA200, like where to get it. What else do I do? Massage and milk, I know. Anything else? Any reason not to let her keep the baby?

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), May 07, 2001

Answers

Shannon, with massage and milking you should be able to get some milk out of the udder, rarely does mastitis present itself with a udder with no milk in either half. If you can get a sample send it in, then start treating, this way you have milk put away so if you guess incorrectly the test results will be back with instructions on which drug to choose. You may want to contact Pipestone Vets, pipestone.com if you call during the day you can talk to any of the vets, as long as you pay for the call. They have been invaluable to me in the past. They also have a great informative catalog and newsletter. Talk to them about this hard udder. I don't know the dosage of pen in sheep, you will need to know this before you start dosing. Ask them for the dosage on LA200, you don't want to be guessing. Both drugs treat different forms of mastitis, I wouldn't even guess using Pen if it was my goat, since staph mastitis which is when you would choose pen, is not a hard udder with no milk. You will also want to be using infusions of the udder along with the systemic antibiotic. Yes it could also be a congested udder, but once again with massage you do get out milk. I would also have the ewe blood tested. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), May 07, 2001.

Could also be a condition or disease called OPP (Ovine Progressive Pneumonia) which manifests as hard udders, no milk, basically making the ewe useless as a milker.It later on can debilitate the ewe. I would try to treat her first for mastitis as Vicky suggested as there is no treatment for OPP, which can be passed to the lamb through the milk. Either way, sounds like you have a bottle lamb, a joy or headache, depending how you look at it.

-- Kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), May 08, 2001.

Just a second comment. I have let bottle lambs stay with their moms as there is a bonding and they do take care of them . I get them on creep feed early and it is amazing to watch the little opportunists run along and snitch milk from all the other moms when they are preoccupied with grain or hay. Of course, if the ewe does have a communicable infection, probably this would not be the best scenario. Kate

-- Kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), May 08, 2001.