[firemansam]

I put a thread on here 3 weeks ago regards a ewe that I thought was lambing. She had a big bag of milk, s clear discharge, a day or so later she was up and down, grinding teeth etc, but never any sign of pushing,  then a few days more it all stopped.

Well 3 weeks on her milk has mostly gone and she has a small discharge which is dark brown. She seems absolutely fine in her self.
Im guessing this isnt good!

[MarvinH]

Do you lamb outside? lambed & taken or died ? Is she still 'big'

[firemansam]

yes I lamb outside with field shelters, its possible. Im more worried its still in there but has died

[Marches Farmer]

If you can get hold of her you should be able to feel the lambs kicking inside her if you hold the flat of your hand against her belly.  No milk and dark discharge sounds very suspicious.  I'd go for a long acting antibiotic as soon as possible.

[shep53]

As said you can feel if a lamb is still in the womb dead or alive . Since you say she seems fine then sound like shes lambed  and its gone

[sabrina]

If it had died in her she would be ill by now.

[ZaktheLad]

If she was in labour 3 weeks ago but lamb in a position that it was unable to progress such as breach, then they can just give up on lambing and carry on as if nothing has happened if no assistance in given to get the lamb out. Is there any chance you could have missed her water bag? A ewe getting up and down repeatedly is usually a sure sign of labour.  However, if this was 3 weeks ago your ewe would surely be very ill or dead by now as lamb would have rotted away inside her.  If her udder has gone it would seem she has lost the lamb but unusual she showed no signs of having missed her lamb after birth - ie. frantically calling etc.  Was she an experienced ewe or a first timer? 

[shep53]

If it had died in her she would be ill by now.

       You would think that would happen and sometimes it does , but on  many occasions i have pulled out  dead lambs in various stages of decomposition  the worst being just bones and the ewe showed no signs of distress until lambing.    On one occasion a ewe bagged up  then dried up and i could feel a lamb waited until 2wk after possible  last due date and sold her could still feel something , perfectly healthy all the time

[ScotsGirl]

I had exactly that happen today. My ewe was due yesterday, huge and spent most of her time lying on her side. This morning she was down then when up I saw the bag out. It burst eventually and she just carried on grazing. I checked inside and the lamb was lying width ways.


I manage to get head and legs in position but couldn't get it out and in the end called vet. Between us we got them out. It the second big lamb was curled round the first which stopped them coming out .


I suspect the same has happened with yours so I'd do an internal although not sure if the cervix would have closed over?

[firemansam]

she was penned from 1st sign of clear discharge and I really though she was going to lamb 3 days later but nothing. On the vets advice I examined her and she wasnt open enough to be lambing yet. She stayed penned for over a week before I let her out as clearly nothing was happening. She has been checked on every day several times a day. There is absolutely no way she could of lambed it that pen.

[ScotsGirl]

Could be ring womb? If you know when and how long the ram was in then you should be able to work out the latest possible lambing date. I had one last year who was 3 weeks late, bagged up very red and floppy bum but nothing! Eventually she did produce 2 big lambs.


I don't know if ring womb would cause distress and it is quite rare but worth querying. Fingers crossed you get a nice lamb or so.

[ZaktheLad]

If you have been watching her closely like you say and have also had her penned up originally, it seems highly unlikely she will have already lambed without you noticing at least something at some point in the day.  Has she ever appeared to be laying down and heaving or been on her own away from the rest of your flock?   Does she look significantly thinner than 3 weeks ago?   Ewes can give a clear discharge up to 3 weeks before they actually lamb and like ScotsGirl mentions, they can show all signs of lambing way before they actually do - I think it's just to keep us on our toes!   The fact that you say her udder seems to have now shrunk is worrying though, as is the brown discharge.  Do you know the proposed lambing dates for her and how does this fit in with the rest of your ewes? 

[Marches Farmer]

We've only ever seen ringwomb in first timers and not for years as we've always culled for it.  The vet can give a muscle relaxant but working the cervix with your fingertips for half an hour generally works too.  You have to check inside to find out that's the problem, though.

[shep53]

It is really really easy to palpatate the abdomen and feel a lamb

[colliewoman]

Can sheep have cloudbursts like goats do? If this had been on the goat forum I would have said 100% it was a cloudburst