The right moment to intervene comes with experience and even then it can sometimes prove elusive ....
Totally
And whilst we do, often, encourage people to give the ewe a chance to do it on her own and not interfere too soon, and it's good advice, you are unlikely to kill either ewe or lamb if you go in too early, use plenty of lube and common sense, and, most importantly,
call the vet if you've been at it for more than 20 minutes with no progress, or 40 minutes with no lamb. But if you leave it too long, you could have a dead lamb or even a dead ewe.
[member=146945]crobertson[/member] , from your description it is possible that you went in too soon and or too deep, yes. But the ewe had been at it for some time and was getting weak. It gets so much harder once the ewe has stopped trying that I think most of us would have had a feel when you did - and without being there, I can't say whether I'd have gone on and delivered the lamb or let her try for longer after feeling what you felt. Probably given her another 30-40 minutes and had another feel, and if no change, done what you did. But I wasn't there, you were, and you did what you thought right at the time - and I may well have done exactly the same had I been there.
So don't beat yourself up.
You have a live lamb and a live ewe and that's what it's all about. I've lambed literally thousands of sheep over 12 years, must have helped deliver upwards of fifty lambs (could be as many as a hundred, didn't keep count), and whilst you learn from every single lambing, you do really want to celebrate the live births and not get too down about the deaths - and certainly not beat yourself up about delivering a live lamb to a live ewe!
So well done, congratulations
, and good on yer for seeking to learn more from the experience. Now pat yourself on the back, admire that happy family and all your other happy families, and enjoy the rest of your lambing