The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: zwartbles on March 07, 2012, 11:55:45 am
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Good news and bad.
Have been lucky up until now with some very nice lambs.
Yesterday one of our best ewes went into labour and then stopped pushing with no lamb visible. Got the vet out who then struggled for an hour with a giant dead lamb bent double with feet facing forward. Impossible to turn around until two legs broke off. It the took two of us to pull the rest out.
Poor ewe will quite likely die of peritonitis as she has a tear to the uterus. Antibiotics of course but they can only do so much.
Four still to go so fingers crossed !
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:'( I'd give a hug but can't find the smiley thing.
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Sorry read your news. Bless her.
Hope all goes well with the four.
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So sorry to hear about your ewe, I hope she manages to pull through.
Why oh why is it always our best or favourite ewes that come a cropper...
Hugs from me too. I hope the rest of lambing goes smoothly. x
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Sounds awful, so sorry :(. Hope the ewe manages to repair herself, poor thing :-\
Best of luck with the rest ..
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:( :bouquet: Hope the ewe is OK - where there's life etc etc.
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Hi Zwartbles,
I hope your ewe will recover :hshoe: :sheep: , heartbreaking when that sort of thing happens :bouquet:
I like the good news though :thumbsup: your little -uns look so sweet :love:
Tilly :wave:
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So sorry this is a horrible thing to deal with :bouquet: good luck
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The only solution is to go and visit the lambs - especially at stomping time which is around 5.30 -6.00 pm here at the moment. Thinking of you.
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If you already had the vet out - would a C-section not have been easier on the ewe? Even if she then would be a non-breeder, her cast value should have made up for it. If she dies on your holding you will have nothing... except the vet's bill.
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zwartbles, so sorry to hear about your ewe :bouquet:
If you already had the vet out - would a C-section not have been easier on the ewe? Even if she then would be a non-breeder, her cast value should have made up for it. If she dies on your holding you will have nothing... except the vet's bill.
I wondered the same, then thought our vets are usually very reticent to to a c-section when it's dead lambs, saying that you usually can't keep the wound clean and will end up with a very sick ewe who will die in any case, so I don't know if that's what they thought here. But yes, if the uterus was going to tear you would have thought a c-section would perhaps have been the best of the available options.
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How is the ewe today Zwartbles?
I have everything crosed for you and her its so very distressing when things like this happen ((hug))
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[I have everything crosed for you and her its so very distressing when things like this happen ((hug))
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And from me. Rotten luck. :(
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will be keeping my fingers crossed for your ewe, so sorry to hear about the lamb
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Thank you all for your good wishes. The ewe is up and walking and grazing, which is good. The outcome won't be clear for a few days when we will find out if any infection has occured.
A section wasn't a feasible option in a dark muddy field shelter on a ewe who had been fighting for three hours and was very weak. The primary concern was trying to get the lamb out before the ewe died of shock or exhaustion, the tear not being inevitable, just a side effect of fused limbs etc.
In a perfect world ,with hindsight a lot of our decisions might be different!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Good to hear she's up and grazing - fingers crossed :-*
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Fingers crossed - hope she is ok
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Better news. 4.30 this morning a pair of perfect twins. Very reassuring to find that because we have had one disaster it doesn't mean that they are all affected.
Sick ewe still up and eating so still hope there. Thank you all for your good wishes and an apology for a terse reply yesterday. :)
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I don't think you ever need to apologise for short replies - we understand :-*
Good news on the twins ;D and sending 'get well' thoughts to your sick ewe :)
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So glad she's hanging in there. Fingers crossed that she does recover.
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Lambing is aways a roller coaster of emotions :'( / :) - but with the added worry of this dam virus, we are all a little more edgy than normal :-\
- lovely news that new set of twins are healthy :sheep: :sheep:
Tilly :wave:
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Awwww, so sorry to hear of the problems, but all sounds like a promising outcome (fingers crossed). Wonderful pics :thumbsup:
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Another 5Kg single tonight 11pm. Only 2 to go !
Sick ewe still eating :)
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Great news, lambkins!! - and please dont appoligise - well not to me, its a rollorcoaster ride at lambing time.
Glad to hear that the ewe is still up and walking too as well as your new edition :0)
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All done at last !! The final ewe presented us with triplets, two fine, one not too good. We decided to try and keep it going and have succeeded! We now have three very smart, very small girls. Mother has three teats ............ but only one works !! So we are now bottle feeding two.
The poorly ewe has survived well and is full of life. Although not suitable for breeding next year she has a future with us. We originally bought here in a batch for training our collies on so she still can fulfill her role !! ;D
Good luck to everyone still lambing and here's to next year.
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Lovely pics! We had a ewe with only one working teat and she managed to raise twins with no help from us. We offered bottles to both lambs to top up but they didnt want to know and both grew into bonny lambs.
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So glad that your ewe is recovering and will be able to stay with you and still be useful.
The lambs are cuties. :)
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good news and lovely pics! :thumbsup:
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You've got a nice ewe there, do you show? well done with the lambing.
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Very nice pics. I do like Zwartbles and they would be my second choice as a breed to keep. They do look so smart. Fingers crossed that the poorly ewe keeps on getting better.
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Thanks, Feldar, she is a lovely ewe. Super manners as are most of ours. We do show locally but there are only a few flocks locally so they tend to get put in with "other continental breeds".
Last year we had them ignored at one show as they didn't finish as fast as Texels !! Had to point out to the judge that he was supposed to be judging breed standard not as butchers lambs !! Didn't go down too well.
I think we have registered five to breed standard from this lambing and they will be up for sale. Surplus rams will go in the oven and we keep some ewes for crossbreeding as they produce lovely sweet meat without excess fat.