Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Ewe on her back  (Read 8370 times)

maddy

  • Joined Jul 2012
Ewe on her back
« on: October 05, 2014, 04:44:48 pm »
A strange thing today, one of my ewes was flat on her back with her legs in the air and I thought she was dead.  When I went over to her she appeared to be stuck so pushed her over and she got up and carried on with eating.  This has now just happened again.  This time when I pushed her back right she sounded a little chesty but is now eating.  Why would this have happened.  The ground is pretty flat so its not as if she got caught in a hole.  She is 2 years old.

Graemscifi

  • Joined Nov 2013
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2014, 04:57:17 pm »
ewes on thier backs are "cast" its normal to find them ocasionaly like this, more so when they are heavy with fleece and lamb. sheep can get caught in tiny grooves in the ground, or some breeds like my cheviots have flat backs which the can get stuck on.  you did the right thing to right her, push them over away from you as they might bolt away. if they have been like that for a long time they will be very unsteady on thier feet and will be prone to it happening again. i would stay with them for a while, make sure she pees, that will be the first thing she does, apart from thanking you by trying to kick you as you right her. The chestyness you describe may be nothing, or it may be a sighn of fluid in the lungs. it is the acumulation of this fluid and the inability to pee that makes ewes cast for a long time a proplem. most sheep will be ok cast for 12 hours but check them more often if you are concerned. as always dont take my word for it, after al i am not seeing the sheep. in the end its your call

Maureen

  • Joined Mar 2011
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2014, 06:00:15 pm »
My Southdown ewe was on her back recently, I sat her up and let her rest against my legs for a bit and then stood her up.  I did it this way as I read somewhere that you should not roll them over but can't remember why - does anyone else have views on this?


TheSmilingSheep

  • Joined May 2013
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2014, 06:06:23 pm »
I righted a cast ewe last summer  - I think she'd been there a while (maybe 24 hrs - not my ewe!), and I'd read recently that you need to right them and then hold them for a while so that their internal organs can re-settle etc...
that's why they often fall straight back over....
the ewe I turned was very eager to get away, and just couldn't use her back legs and fell again and again, I ended up holding her as best I could for about 20 mins until everything had sorted itself out inside her, and then she was able to 'totter off' and join her pals...

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2014, 11:14:35 pm »

We went to Shetland in 2000 with the Shetland Sheep Society, and toured around some of the time in a couple of coaches.  One day everybody spotted a cowped ewe (same as cast) in a very soggy field.  The driver was made to slam on the brakes, various sheep breeders in their best high heeled shoes leapt out of the coach and set off up the field to right the ewe - at the last minute she managed to get up herself, and everyone trooped back to the coach, a bit wetter and muddier around the feet  ;D :sheep:

As Graemscifi has said, this can happen when the sheep is in full fleece, especially if the fleece becomes sodden with rain therefore extremely heavy.  Our 'bad' neighbour couldn't be ar$£d one year to shear his sheep, so they had two years worth of texel fleece, plus the heavy rain of a wet year, to cart about.  They were forever cowping, and Mr F had to jump over fences several times a day to rescue them.  You can't leave them as eventually they will die.

It can happen to rather weak, elderly ewes, coming to the end of their lives, when they just don't have the strength to stand up again - time to consider their future at that point.

I currently have a rather chubby Shetland fleece wether who I've seen twice in a couple of days on his back, waving his legs in the air.  He's not properly cowped though, because after wriggling around for a while he leaps back to his feet looking very pleased with himself.  I think he's just scratching his back, so he'll need to come in tomorrow so we can investigate the reason.

I have had a couple of ewes which cowped - one lost an eye very gruesomely, so I won't repeat that story, the other was heavily pregnant, and had a huge spinning fleece; she had laid down then tipped over sideways into a small depression - no chance of getting back to her feet.

Yes, it's a good idea to hold the sheep once it's standing again to make sure all is back to normal - pee'ed and burped, steady on the feet, before letting it go.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

wonderwooly

  • Joined May 2013
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2014, 07:39:01 pm »
we have one that casts now and then seasonally, but luckily she lets everybody know about it, I sometimes get the feeling she's just looking for an excuse. in an, oh look at me
i'v just fainted sort of way!
I sent the son to roll her as he's faster up the hill.

sabrina

  • Joined Nov 2008
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #6 on: October 06, 2014, 08:02:16 pm »
the number of times I have shouted at my husband stop the car, over a fence I go to save a sheep. they have a death wish.

Melmarsh

  • Joined May 2014
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2014, 08:21:36 pm »
I did once loose a ewe that got stuck in a tractor groove, she would have been like that for less than 12hrs !! So it doesn't always work out well. Over conditioned ewes are at risk with their table top backs !! I did have old fashion Southdown's once, little round girls, I ended up buying an anti roll device, looks like two halves of a coconut that is strapped to the back, I only used it when she was in full fleece, but had got paranoid about her getting stuck and finding her dead. I always roll them back and stand with them to get their bearings, depending on how long they have been there will effect how long before they are steady. Good luck, hope it doesn't happen regularly :relief:

SteveHants

  • Joined Aug 2011
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2014, 08:38:43 pm »
*insert annoying woolshedding sheep comment here*

Me

  • Joined Feb 2014
  • Wild West
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2014, 08:43:26 am »
I sheared some great fat ewe lambs for someone recently as one kept getting stuck and the owner was concerned ref. being done by the rspca while she was out - result is it still gets stuck!

Tim W

  • Joined Aug 2013
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #10 on: October 11, 2014, 09:06:28 am »
Without a doubt being fat is the number 1 cause of cast sheep

Having square shoulders doesn't help either---if a ewe has narrow shoulders she can roll back over easier (plus her lambs will have narrow shoulders and pop out easier)

Having less wool is also a help, hair sheep /wool shedders very rarely get cast

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #11 on: October 11, 2014, 03:19:07 pm »
Problem is that once they're on their backs the wool flattens due to the weight above it, compounding the problem and the inability to roll back upright.  Even wool-shedding sheep have fleece through the Winter!  I've occasionally had a ewe that's cast repeatedly and they've always been culled.  I once had a cast pregnant ewe get its eyes pecked out by crows. 

If I'm around I always check the ewes three times a day in late pregnancy - I think multiple lambs stretch the ewes' skins and make them very uncomfortable so they try to scratch. 

Tim W

  • Joined Aug 2013
Re: Ewe on her back
« Reply #12 on: October 11, 2014, 04:07:17 pm »
  Even wool-shedding sheep have fleece through the Winter! .

Wool shedders grow a very short fleece over winter---having farmed them alongside their woolly sisters for many years I know that their incidence of getting cast would be less than 1% of the woolly girls
In late pregnancy wool shedders don't need the extra checks that the woolly girls do

 

Forum sponsors

FibreHut Energy Helpline Thomson & Morgan Time for Paws Scottish Smallholder & Grower Festival Ark Farm Livestock Movement Service

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2024. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS