Someone asked me if they should be worried that their November lambs
have fat bellies. These lambs are healthy otherwise, and are not
carrying a worm load, coccidiosis, or any other known problem.
I had a similar experience this fall and winter with my adult ewes
which had fat bellies. They were not pregnant at the time, just fat
in the tummy. My vet (who deals with cattle as well as sheep), as
well as a couple of friends who raise cattle, said my ewes looked
like they had "hay belly". They said that in cattle, this condition
results from the animals being fed a poor quality forage. They said
it is not serious, it is that they fill up on the poor quality bulk
trying to get enough nutrition when better forage is not available.
Usually, my ewes spend the entire summer and fall eating grass in the
pasture. But due to the extreme drought this past summer, they had
to eat hay (big round bales of grass hay) all summer and fall. In
other words, they never came off hay the entire year. They all seem
fine now. They were bred in October and they lambed in March, with
no apparent problems.
But my friend has lambs who are exhibiting the same signs of "hay
belly". They were born in November, and would have been weaned in
about February. So they've spent their first two months of
post-weaning growth eating grass hay, rather than spring pasture, as
most spring-born lambs would eat.
I got to thinking: We hair sheep breeders probably have more
evidence of the difference between fall-born lambs and spring-born
lambs, than breeders of wooly breeds because our sheep can breed and
lamb year-round. So we would be better able to compare the growth of
young fall lambs (fed mostly on hay after weaning), to the growth of
young spring lambs (fed mostly on grass after weaning) than most
breeders of wool sheep.
Which brings me to my question: Have any of you who raise both
spring-born lambs and fall born lambs noticed any difference in the
growth patterns of your fall lambs, such as a fat belly? Do you
think this might be what the cattle people call "hay belly", and
might be due to being weaned onto dry hay forage rather than grass
pasture? What is your opinion of this -- are there long term effects
of this condition, and have you observed that these fall fat-bellied
lambs grow out of the condition?
Your thoughts on this matter are really appreciated!
Sincerely,
Mary Swindell
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