The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: feldar on December 27, 2011, 01:23:58 pm
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Oh yes, you guessed it any other night would be inconvenient but Christmas night!!!
Had family round all day and evening, so then about 22.00 decide to go back to the farm and check sheep, sure enough ewe on lambing. OH checks her; legs and head well up so he pullsthe lamb, easy peasy birth then whoosh uterus starts to come out soo fast he can't hold it back bloody ewe straining like hell.
So i develop super human strength and lift ewe's hind quarters onto a straw bale and straddle her whilst we both try to get it back in. Hampshire downs are not known for being small! my shoulders are killing me today, no luck ewe still straining.
So hubby calls the boys at home " bring the sugar from the cupboard" give our lads their due they didn't hang about, drove the 2 miles to the farm at breakneck speed with a bag of sugar in tow.
we sprinkled it on the uterus and like magic watched it shrink back and we could ease it back into her.
She's now got a spoon and harness on and doped up with penstrep and painkillers but she is alive and she took her lamb. fingers crossed ::) :sheep:
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Good on you - stressful times when animals have their young. We have a Berkshire gilt due to farrow on the 29th so OH keeping a close eye on her. She hasn't started making a nest yet but maybe not all pigs do. We await developments. Jan
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Well done! Hope it all goes well with her and the lamb now :)
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Well done for your quick actions and getting it all back in :sheep: ;D
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Hi feldar
Hope all doing OK in the lambing shed :sheep: :sheep: :sheep: :sheep: :sheep:, it`s aways gives me a" buzz" lambing time -little sleep but on a high!!
--I`ve never heard of putting sugar on a prolapse though :o, ......interesting ???! , where did you learn that from?
Tilly :wave:
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--I`ve never heard of putting sugar on a prolapse though :o, ......interesting ???! , where did you learn that from?
Tilly :wave:
I read it in James Herriott book ;D Fortunately, never had occasion to try it :sheep:
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--I`ve never heard of putting sugar on a prolapse though :o, ......interesting ???! , where did you learn that from?
Tilly :wave:
I read it in James Herriott book ;D Fortunately, never had occasion to try it :sheep:
We use it at least one time every year (with 300 ewes lambing, one or two prolapses are usual.) Our lambing kit includes 2lbs granulated sugar and a waterproof bike-ride-proof container to carry some in.
BH was seriously put out that I knew all about sugar, and in fact had used it before. Yes I read it in James Herriot. :D
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This will be my first lambing in the spring, just wondered how common prolapse was, and wether i should have some handy? I only have 5 in lamb tho, 3 experienced ewes and 2 beginners. ???
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Well, we get maybe two or three a year, so that's about 1%. Our ewes are Texel types having Texel and Charollais lambs. We had hardly any prolapses in Swaledales carrying Swale and Mule lambs - I saw over 1000 of these ewes lamb over my time there.
If prolapses are going to happen, it's more common in the last stages of pregnancy, typically in a ewe carrying plenty of condition, tupped to a meaty type of tup and often carrying twins.
Basically the uterus everts / pops out because there isn't room inside! Then, the bladder can't empty, so that begins to fill up, taking up more room... And the everted uterus swells, so it's larger... When you first get to a ewe with a prolapse, as soon as you can safely do it, push the prolapse in enough to get the bladder opening uncovered - and wait. You will get a wet, warm arm and a deep sigh of satisfaction from the ewe! Once she's emptied her bladder, she is much more comfortable and there's more room in there, so you can take your time getting the thing back in and fixed in.
Prolapses don't develop overnight but aren't easy to spot in the field until they are well advanced, because early on they play 'peek-a-boo', so you have to be watching the right ewe for a while to see it. If the girls are indoors you're more likely to spot it early on, when you can sometimes just give her a chance to empty her bladder, pop it back in, and have no further trouble.
Even with a small handful of ewes, if they are meaty types carrying meaty lambs, I would have a bag of sugar and a prolapse spoon on hand - you can't stay with your hand up a ewe's bum all weekend until the shops / vet surgery are open! ;) ;D
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I agree with all you said Sally, but this ewe gave us no cause for concern previous to lambing . She had no swelling or vaginal prolapse before ( the ewe that had that a few weeks ago has since lambed and is fine) This ewe was a quick normal delivery with a smallish lamb she just prolapsed so quickly. we've been lambing hampshires for 6 years now and only had one once before so i think there's an element of luck involved. Obviously if they are in and on hay there will be a higher chance of it cause they get too stuffed.
We found out about the sugar from an old shepherd friend of ours who has since died and boy don't we miss him! a wealth of knowledge died with that man.
In our lambing kit we always keep sugar a harness and spoon as well as all the lubricants etc
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Thanks for the heads up ;). How much sugar do you use? Mine are southdowns if that makes a difference? Time to get a bit of lambing experience first me thinks
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Thanks for the heads up ;). How much sugar do you use? Mine are southdowns if that makes a difference? Time to get a bit of lambing experience first me thinks
How much sugar - as much as it needs, usually about 5-6 oz I guess. But you have to keep pouring it on and rubbing it over until the surface is well-covered, so I always take a good pound or so with me.
I have no experience of southdowns though am considering a southdown tup for primitives and first-timers. I'd guess southdown ewes would be as liable as any other good-shaped ewe, more so if the tup is a larger breed.
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once the ewe has lambed if she is still straining a 1 ml injection of oxytocin will shrink the uterus, also you can use a plastic bit of kit called a spoon to hold it in
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Yep oxytocin is good for ewes that haven't let their milk down as well, also if you can get the lamb/s to suckle quickly that will also shrink the uterus.
We must have put at least a 3/4 of a bag of standard size sugar on that uterus and it works like magic at shrinking it, then you have to gently being carefull not to put your fingers through the uterus itself put it back inserting you hand if you can, some ewes tighten up quick, also they keep straining which is the hardest thing i found putting the lamb in front of her distracted her a bit from straining even though at the time she was partially upside down!!! The biggest problem is keeping it all clean from straw etc they do say use water but we didn't have any clean there, so we picked any straw off by hand
Anyway we've taken the spoon and harness off and she had cleaned around the spoon and all seems well, lamb is a good one and they are both doing fine. We are giving her another antibiotic jab just in case.