Pregnancy toxaemia in ewes is a serious metabolic welfare crisis occurring in late pregnancy when energy demands of multiple foetuses exceed dietary intake.
Pregnancy toxaemia causes significant suffering including severe depression, loss of coordination and often death in untreated ewes. The welfare-critical window is late pregnancy when energy requirements spike with foetal growth. Flocks without systematic BCS monitoring and nutritional management at this stage frequently experience preventable disease. The disease is particularly significant in intensive sheep systems breeding for high prolificacy - more lambs mean more metabolic demand. Welfare-focused management uses scanning to identify at-risk ewes and provides targeted supplementary feeding based on litter size.