[ScotsGirl]

It was bad enough having an abortion, followed by a set of twins born slightly premature and not surviving. This morning I went out to find my little ewe lamb shouting but no sign of a lamb or any blood, fluid etc anywhere. She has a bit of something hanging (only about 2") but I had a feel inside and bounced her tummy and she feels empty. She has been grazing, calling and gently pushing while lying down but still hasn't passed the afterbirth.


I was half hoping the lamb was still inside but I think Mr Fox must have taken it. It's heartbreaking hearing them search for their lamb.


I have had 2 sets of twins and a single with 2 more to lamb but it is very disappointing. Presume they are more vulnerable as so small.

[SallyintNorth]

Sending      - and  your lambing improves now.

I'm in much the same boat with my wee fleece flock myself - 3 premature/stillborn lambs, one dead ewe and one ewe still poorly, though I think she will recover  .  Oh, and an orphaned lamb to bottle feed that I took from its mother and twin to give to the bereaved ewe who has now died 

They always say you get your problems at the beginning - but it feels rather overwhelming when it's the first 2 or 3 out of not-a-very-big-number!

Your most recent ewe who has something trailing - I think I might be inclined to give her some antibiotics.  If her lamb was stillborn they can struggle to shift the afterbirth - I didn't give antibiotics immediately to the ewe who subsequently died, thinking she was okay as she was eating and loving and feeding her foster lamb.  When she still hadn't shifted it I gave her antibiotics but I think now I should've given them sooner.  I did treat the second ewe straight away and she is still with us and has now shifted hers.  She's still not right though - she eats a little cake but if she still isn't wanting to rejoin the others tomorrow I think I'll give her some more antibiotics.

[ScotsGirl]

Thanks for that info. I caught her in the night and brought in. She's eating cake and seems bright this morning. I will give her some antibiotics though and see if that helps.


My other 2 ewes are huge. I half hoped they might have triplets so I could try and adopt one onto this ewe but not sure if black welsh are good at taking on other lambs.

[SallyintNorth]

I suspect Black Welsh will be similar to Swales - you can get them accept foster lambs but it may take some time, supporting the lamb to feed for a few days and sometimes keeping the lamb safe from the ewe when you're not there to supervise.

But the other thing about Swales is that they are good mothers, and when bereaved they mostly do really want a lamb to mother - so for the most part, the bereaved mothers are pretty good at taking a foster lamb, even when you haven't got the dead lamb's skin and scent to put onto the foster lamb.

[Marches Farmer]

If you want to adopt onto her you must keep milking her and feeding her.  Strip her out as often as you can.  You can freeze the colostrum for next year.

[SallyintNorth]

Actually, with the Swales we found the milk supply was fine, without any stripping out, for up to 4 days.  In one case we tried a ewe who'd been bereaved a week earlier, and she still had milk and took a lamb.

[Foobar]

Sorry to hear of your problems ScotsGirl.  BWM are such good mothers, I would expect that you should be able to adopt on another lamb ... as long as it's black (or brown) - I doubt they would take a white lamb!  You might need the help of a dog to reinforce the protective instinct too.
I hope the rest of your lambing goes better .

[feldar]

really sorry to hear this  
I start lambing my BWM end of march so i'm hoping for a good result. I've never lambed these before but they look tough little things.I put some mineral buckets out for them but they've hardly touched them.
My dorset horns are due soon too, but we had one over the other day and she is still very poorly. I think the stress has sparked off a touch of twin lamb in her, anyway she's in and getting tlc but they do seem to give up quite quickly.   she gets up soon.

[ZaktheLad]

Can't believe just how many problems people seem to be having with their ewes and lambs this year - seems to be one thing after another    I am so nervous about my girls now - due from 4th April