[in the hills]

One of our ewes lambed twins today. The first lamb was born within minutes and the ewe tended it well. It was soon dry and on its feet ..... no problems. We could tell the ewe was unsettled and would probably twin and so sat with her. The water bag, which seemed huge, emerged but did not break and then the lamb appeared, with a normal presentation. The ewe did not seem to "push" and continued to tend her first born. So, the second twin seemed to be hanging half out, in its bag, for quite a time. When it finally plopped out (due to gravity, I think  ) it was still in the bag and the ewe only half heatedly went to clean it. It looked lifeless, so I broke the bag, pulled it off the lamb and did my best to clear its airways. We thought we had lost it but it then made spluttery, choking sounds and the ewe then seemed interested and took over. It soon recovered and was on its feet.


My question is ..... when the lamb was dangling out (ewe stood up) and in its bag, should we have intervened sooner and pulled out the lamb or carefully broke the bag and not pulled???   


As it happens we were lucky and must have just been in time but it seemed as though maybe the lamb took its first breathe in the bag.


Any advice appreciated ... in case we are in that position again.

[peter c]

if i do anything while a ewe is lambing i pull all the lambsout and make sure they are all breathing, you will make a ewe on edge fussing over her, make a decision,either go in and lamb her or leave her and check in five ten mins. thats just my opinion, some peoplewill watch for half an hour and it doesnt do any good

[SteveHants]

I imagine she was stressed with you standing over her like that - as long as the umbilicus is still connected then they do not need to breathe - usually when the ewe drops a second lamb standing up, the bag breaks with gravity and the lamb splutters to life.

[SallyintNorth]

There shouldn't be any problem with the lamb still being in the bag while it's being born - but once it hits the ground, and specifically once the umbilical cord is broken, then it needs the bag to be open as it will then inhale.   Normally the impact breaks the bag, but not always, and typically the ewe breaks the cord as she turns around to tend to the newborn.  So long as the first thing she does is rip the bag if it's still intact, all should be well.

If you are absolutely certain the presentation is correct then I don't think you would do any harm opening the bag -  but if there's any chance you may need to push the lamb back inside then it would be better to not break the bag, just in case. 

Also, if she's being slow delivering and she's outside, the bag will provide some protection to the lamb's eyes and tongue, which otherwise could attract corvids.

[in the hills]

Thanks for your replies.


Sorry, Steve H. Read my post and it does sound like I was sitting with her and holding her hand  . We lamb outside and I was in the same field as her but sitting a sensible distance away. They seem from their reactions quite comfortable with that and only having a few sheepies I enjoy sitting a few minutes with them every day (I know  ) so they don't see that as anything unusual. I don't think she was in anyway bothered about my presence in the field but was very absorbed with her first born.


Only our second year lambing and must admit have only had to "observe" so far    but felt that we nearly lost the twin because maybe we didn't intervene soon enough.


SITN. Thanks. That answer is very clear and just what I needed to know. With very little experience, I'm not sure if this is the norm but it seems that when our singles are born the bag is already broken as the lamb is being delivered. With twins however, the secord born seems to hit the ground in an intact bag and the bag doesn't break. I suppose it's a matter of knowing how long to give the ewe to sort things out before you intervene.

[SteveHants]

Thanks for your replies.
Sorry, Steve H. Read my post and it does sound like I was sitting with her and holding her hand  . We lamb outside and I was in the same field as her but sitting a sensible distance away. They seem from their reactions quite comfortable with that and only having a few sheepies I enjoy sitting a few minutes with them every day (I know  ) so they don't see that as anything unusual. I don't think she was in anyway bothered about my presence in the field but was very absorbed with her first born.

Ah - it can be painful watching them lamb outside. I tend to wander off if the tendency for me to try and catch/poke the ewe kicks in and do something else for a sensible amount of time before coming back to see what shes up to.