By Alicia Moses, District Veterinarian Grenfell Local Land Services
If you have lamb marking coming up, make sure you are allocating enough time to ‘wet and dry’ your ewes.
This involves examining the ewes’ udders for signs of being suckled (ie. clean nipples, full udders with milk expression) or ‘wet’ which indicates the ewe has reared a lamb.
If the udder is dirty, underdeveloped and little to no milk can be expressed, the ewe is likely ‘dry’ and has not given birth or has lambed and lost. Other abnormalities such as mastitis, teat injuries and udder conformation issues can also be identified at this time by palpation.
This simple procedure is invaluable for ensuring reproductive efficiency as ewes can be culled on poor performance rather than age alone.
Latest Stories
Ewes that fail to successfully conceive or rear a lamb are much more likely to fail in subsequent seasons.
Even better, combining ‘wet and drying’ with pregnancy scanning is the gold standard for identifying reproduction issues (such as abortions) and ewes that have lambed and lost.
Lower than expected marking or scanning percentages may prompt an investigation for underlying causes such as infectious diseases.
For further information or assistance, call your local District Veterinarian on 1300 795 299.
