The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: sp435 on July 19, 2012, 05:27:12 am
-
Hi All :
I'm currently working on vaginal prolapse research in sheep, which will ultimately lead to application in humans and I was wondering if you guys can help me out. Prolapse in sheep is multi-factorial and difficult to pin point. Our objective is to start analysis from ground up and come to the single most factor (along with what we already know) and provide an adequate explanation for the same.
It will be great to get some help from y'all.
Thanks :)
-
Sounds interesting, ask away!
-
What you need is somebody with mules....... :innocent:
-
Well, we had 8 pre-lambing prolapses this year, Steve, and not one of them in a mule. Although all of them were in ewes whose mums or grandmums were probably mules.
-
We only had one last lambing year and a full prolapse from a ewe we didn't expect tp prolapse.
The vaginal one was a " well covered " ewe who was 7 years old who has always lambed on her own before. We inserted a spoon and harness and when she lambed she was ok but we fostered the lambs because her milk didn't come down.
She; needless to say is no longer with us.
The full prolapse was a completely unexpected 2 shear ewe with no previous history of this problem and none in her background.
Hope that helps
-
You might want to contact the Rough Fell Sheep Breeders Association as prolapse is (becoming) quite an issue in Roughs.
I lost a beautiful shearling who didn't just prolapse, she lost the lamb bed, lambs and a great trail of her innards about a month before lambing and had to be shot where she'd fallen :'(
And in the past four years had four others prolapse, one the daughter of a ewe who had also prolapsed both before and after lambing, as was the shearling above - lesson there!
Given I only had 20 breeding sheep this was a lot.
Some farmers will say its because you've over fed them but none of these had a condition score above 3, they carried both singles and twins. I think it can get bred in.
-
Well, we had 8 pre-lambing prolapses this year, Steve, and not one of them in a mule. Although all of them were in ewes whose mums or grandmums were probably mules.
Of all the sheep I hear people moaning about for prolapse, mules seem to top the list. See also: needing assisting at lambing, teeth breaking and being greedy. I do believe they are very milky though....... I'm blaming BFL genes, apparently the average flock size of pure BFLs is 25. I've heard countless folk moaning abiut how their BFL tups love to die...
Can you tell I'm not a fan? :P
-
I know it's not very scientific but BFLs just look weedy and 'delicate'.
-
I know it's not very scientific but BFLs just look weedy and 'delicate'.
But don't they have bonny heads?..... ;D
-
Hmmmm :D Interesting maybe. Bonny might be stretching it a bit :D
Here's a bonny sheep ;)
(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k70/jaykayg/Farm047.jpg)
-
I lambed a flock of around 700 Welsh
Halfbreds for a number of years and they were very prone to prolapsing. Trouble was if they weren't attended to ASAP then they quite often chucked everything out, intestines an all, it was horrid. That said they were quite fat little things. On the plus side I'm now very capable of replacing and either stitching or harnessing them up in record time!
-
That's what happened to my shearling Rough Sbom. Awful :o
-
I know it's not very scientific but BFLs just look weedy and 'delicate'.
They look like they have died and forgotten to fall over!
-
Hi sp435, welcome here! Good luck in your research, just out of curiosity where do you study/conduct it?
Are you a vet/vet nurse? If not, you could try and speak to them as they will have lots of experience - I'm not saying farmers/crofters/smallholders haven't (far from me!!), but it's just that a vet tends to see many more cases in one season than a breeder.
Having said that, I haven't thoroughly researched the topic myself but I remember during vet school and later in practice we were told that if a ewe prolapses it's not a good idea to keep her and lamb her again as she will tend to have the same problem again - and very likely to transmit the characteristic to every lamb she has.
We were told that the mother ewe should be culled and lambs not kept as breeders; daughters especially but tups too (as they transmit conformation as well), just fatten them up and eat them.
Very different from a cow. If a cow has a prolapse it's generally ok to calve her again, as after the prolapse has been reduced there will be formation of basically scar tissue and internal attachments between organs in the abdomen that will keep the uterus in place; however, I still wouldn't advise to keep her progeny as breeding stock.
Good luck!
:wave:
-
Presumably you also want to know about breeds which don't seem to prolapse so much. We have kept Hebrideans for 17 years and not seen a prolapse in them. Our flock is small, varying between about 10 and 25 ewes. The only thing approaching a prolapse - just a 'bulge' - was in an overweight Jacob ewe carrying triplets, in our first year of breeding, and hers. We have not had a prolapse in our tiny flock of Soay either - numbering between 3 and 8 in different years - or in our Shetlands either. :thumbsup:
-
I have only had two types which have prolapsed. One was a Southdown X which had a badly assisted birth and had a full prolapse due to continued contractions, result was being put down as vet repair went horribly wrong.
My mule had a vaginal prolapse last year which the vet said was down to overfeeding of hay. She went on to have triplets and wasn't carrying much weight. This year she had a very slight sign of prolapse a day or two before delivery when I started feeding her hay. So maybe hay was the problem. She was only carrying twins this year though.
-
I have never had a prolapse in the Greyface Dartmoors (yet!), but a Poll Dorset ewe I had always popped out a grapefruit 3 weeks before lambing - inserted a spoon and all was well. Put up with it for 3 years then she had ringwomb so went on.
-
What you need is somebody with mules....... :innocent:
OMG Steve... don't say that.... |I have just bought a small flock of mule ewe lambs to be my breeders next year! :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
-
We never have prolapses in the badger faced welsh. The mules are prone to this but over feeding seems to be just as important as breeding. We never lamb a ewe again after she has prolapsed, or keep her progeny. I think that is why we get very few.
-
Wow.. You guys are more responsive than seniors here ;) (FYI - seniors ~ higher authority not age) :P
Okay.. now my question to y'all -
- Hilly areas - Does that lead to higher incidences of prolapse in your ewe?
- Mineral Imbalance - Does this play a factor? If so, then does it have additional effects too?
- Type - Which type of prolapse is more common - vaginal or uterine?
- Age - Is it more frequent in older ewes?
- Birthing - is it a factor? dystocia? may be?
- Offsprings - More the number, higher the chances of prolapse - yes or no?
- Docking of the tail - does it increase the chances of prolapse?
I'm sorry for the list of questions, but I have to explore a lot in a small topic. Hence, I'm looking for a possible cause that is unexplored and my work would throw light on it.
I would like to thank everyone again for their valuable comments and responses. I really appreciate your help. From these personal experiences I can narrow down my search and jot down the possible etiology (causes) of prolapse in ewe.
Sincerely
PhD
-
What you need is somebody with mules....... :innocent:
OMG Steve... don't say that.... |I have just bought a small flock of mule ewe lambs to be my breeders next year! :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
Don't panic Mallows - of our 8 prolapses, not a one of them was amongst our 26 mules.
Having said which, on the moorland farm I did get prolapses amongst the mules - maybe 2 or 3 in 80 each year - but they nearly always happened once they were indoors getting ad lib hay / silage.
Key things to note about mules - yes they are greedy (none of my collies is prepared to be on the ground between a mule and her cake :D) but they are very friendly and delightful at the same time. Don't flush them before or during tupping if you don't want too many triplets, feed to condition (never have a pregnant mule more than condition score 3), do scan if you can (otherwise assume all twins and you'll be 98% right! ;)), don't cake single-bearers (if you know who they are), and with the twin-bearers, in the month before lambing, split their cake into two feeds. And do feed twin-bearers plenty of cake - on the moorland farm we fed 2lb per head in the last month, split into two feeds - so they have less need of forage for their dietary requirements. Make sure they've always got the appropriate energy/mineral lick available too. It's eating too much grass, hay or sliage that blows them up and makes there not be enough room for the developing lambs.
-
Thanks Sally... I do tend to 'do' my sheep a little well... hence me keeping well away from Jacobs etc. I will bear my feeding and flushing in mind. But you are right... they are VERY VERY greedy and incredibly delightful! I am completely in love with them already ;D
Lisa