[Beeducked]

Well last year one of my ewes prolapsed about 3 days before she finally delivered. Ultimately she had a dead, breech, very large ewe lamb followed by an equally large live ewe lamb and was a great mum.


Had a long think and asked lots of opinions about whether to breed from her again or to cull and read loads on here. As the opinions seemed to be split decided to give her another chance rather than cull particularly as there seemed to be a possible reason in terms of the large dead breech lamb and she was such a good mum.


Unfortunately she has prolapsed again so was clearly the wrong decision. I feel terrible for putting her through this again and will just have to hope it turns out as well as last year did but will certainly make a different decision in the future. Hopefully she is close, when I reduced the prolapse and put the spoon in she gave me a good licking so she clearly is expecting to find a lamb soon.

[Beeducked]

Oops, accidentally posted this in Goats, rather than Sheep. Is there any clever Mod who can move it or should I just duplicate it there?

[Beeducked]

Thanks!

[Buffy the eggs layer]

Well although its not ideal she is at least in good hands. Although the first prolapse was most likely caused by the large still born breech. The fact that she had 2 big lambs could also indicate that she was receiving high levels of nutrition particularly in the latter half of her pregnancy. Being overweight is a common factor in prolapsing ewes so it's worth considering whether that could be a contributing factor to prevent it happening to another ewe. Either way, whatever lead to the initial prolapsing has left her disposed to prolapsing again which is most often the case and your wiser for your experience.


I was so keen to ensure that one of my ewes who suffered with twin lamb syndrome last year was not a result of lack of feed that I feel I swung the other way this year and over fed my ewes ending up with post lamb ewes with more condition than I like to see at this time of year. I prefer them to be a bit leaner before the spring grass comes through.


In this instance there was no real harm done. The lambs were big and the ewes were all fine but I will scale back next year. So that's my lesson learned for this year.


But as I always say to my students...Even Goldilocks had to try 3 different types of porridge before she found one that was "just right" for her so honing your methods is all part of the process.


 



 

[Bionic]

I did exactly the same as you. Prolapsed 2 years ago. she was my favourite so decided to give her another chance last year. She prolapsed again although did go on to have a lovely lamb. Unfortunately she kept prolapsing after lambing too. Vet stitched her and after a couple of months she lost the stitch and prolapsed again. It kept happening so once she had weaned her lamb she went off to her maker. I was gutted. I would have happily kept her and not bred from her again but in the end it just wasn't fair to her. 

[Beeducked]

Yep,  you live and learn. Will have to cull her this year as I just can't risk lambing her again, it's not fair. I will not put another ewe through this if and when I have another prolapser. None of them, especially her seem overweight, have been careful after last year although she didn't seem overweight last year either.


She seems very comfortable with the spoon in although it makes me very uncomfortable using it. Hopefully she will lamb soon. A very close eye is being kept.