[wellies]

We were just waiting for our last ewe to lamb, a shearling who was scanned for a single. She was due today but on my repeated visits to the barn she looked completely relaxed, chewing the cud and no signs of labour. I really thought that she would be ok for a 3hr check. I go back after 3hrs and there is one live ewe lamb up and wobbling around and tragically 1 dead ewe lamb. It would seem the sack around its face didn't break, it was small as is its sibling (she was only fed for a single) and the ewe seemed to be in utter shock at what she had produced. I'm so cross I wasn't there to ensure all was ok. Ewe seems to have settled now and is allowing the surviving ewe to suckle etc. What an utterly frustrating way to loose a lamb especially after checking on them religiously through the day and night for the past three weeks. I'm obviously grateful for the surviving lamb and hoping she will do well as we have her mum, aunty and grandmother all in our breeding flock.
 

[mowhaugh]

The exact same thing happened to me last week, a beautiful Kerry Hill ewe lamb, still with the sack round its face.  I, too, felt dreadful, but you can't be there every single minute, don't be too hard on yourself.

[SallyintNorth]

  for you and the poor lamb who never breathed 

But don't beat yourself up - and one healthy lamb for a first-timer is frankly IMV the best result; she'll make a good job of it needing little help, and she'll know all about it for next time.

[FiB]

  It could all have still happened if you'd been away an hour.... Still sad for you though. Fi xx

[Hillview Farm]

Please don't beat yourself up over it, I have lost three now to what we believe is SBV and I was upset as I missed all three and there is always that voice in your head saying you should have been there and you could have saved them but something it's just not ment to be!

[Hellybee]

Aww doll, that's a shame, but you can only do your best, such things happen, please don't feel guilty

[Bramblecot]

Know that feeling .  I wonder why the sac is so strong in some of them?  Last year I had one where it was quite difficult to tear, the lamb (no 2 twin) would have stood no chance on it's own as mum was still busy with no 1.

[Marches Farmer]

Some ewes make a big fuss about lambing and others act normally, including coming to the trough for feed and go off and producing a lamb 20 minutes later.  None of our sheep have ever lambed more than three days early, until last year, when a Southdown carrying triplets lambed six days early, before we'd started to check the shed through the night.  We came down to find three excellent lambs - one live, one licked off but dead and one dead still in a tough sac.  The farmer who used to own this farm told us that if lambing starts well it ends badly and vice versa.  The rest of lambing went very well that year.  This year things began very well, so .....

[Foobar]

Don't beat yourself up, it happens.  I had a ewe lamb in the freezing cold fog the other night, had to help her a bit with twins (another leg back, the bane of my life this year). Tucked them up safe and sound in the stable for the night, then came down the following morning to find she'd had a tiny third lamb.  It was dead, but had been licked clean all over, so I suspect it was alive when it was born.  Mine so rarely have triplets I didn't even think to check for a third.

That ewe actually is a right pain - she gets so involved with cleaning up the first lamb she ignores the second one that is half hanging out her back end and gives up pushing.  Tsk.

My older ewes make a right thing of lambing - even an untrained eye could spot them a good 24 hours before hand with all their restlessness, pacing up and down and random bleating.  But the younger ones especially the first timers show barely any sign at all - although I think I do spot a look they give me, like they are waiting for me to go away, lol.