[ewesaidit]

This year had my first (and hopefully last!) experience of a full uterine prolapse a day after one of my ewes lambed.   It was, as sod's law dictates, the ewe that was my most expensive purchase.  Vet put the prolapse back (with great difficulty), stitched, antibiotics, metacam and she pulled through.  She's been fine since and this year's lamb is now nearly three months old.

The ewe is now 4 years old and although expensive has paid for herself with lambs she has produced.  I was lucky this year to have a ewe lamb from her (the previous good ones have been tups and were sold)

Should I breed from her next year?   Vet, at the time, said if it all settles quickly then it might be ok next time round.  Hmmm .....

Any views?

[Me]

Not the same as a vaginal prolapse and may not reoccur

[Tim W]

No----get rid of her

And just to stir the pot a bit---Do you really want to keep stock from an animal that could be genetically prone to prolapsing?
Although to be fair her prolapsing is likely to be due to many other reasons before being a genetically linked problem

[MarvinH]

I'd cull it.

[Bionic]

I decided to give my ewe another try after she prolapsed last year. She prolapsed again this year, 4 weeks before lambing and then a couple of days after the lamb arrived.


I am not going to cull her but won't breed from her again.

[FiB]

Not the same as a vaginal prolapse and may not reoccur

I thought it was the post lambing ones that were the worst? I sent mine to cull mkt just before ram arrived.

[SallyintNorth]

Not the same as a vaginal prolapse and may not reoccur

I thought it was the post lambing ones that were the worst? I sent mine to cull mkt just before ram arrived.

That's always been my understanding too.

[Emmam]

When I started out with our ewes, I bought some older ewes from a local farmer.  One of the ewes had a uterine prolapse during lambing but we managed to get the lambs out in time.  She healed and I should have culled her, it happened again the next year and she lost the lambs.  In my opinion it really is not worth breeding from your ewe again.

[Me]

You can't have a uterine prolapse during lambing and manage to get the lambs out - its not possible - vaginal prolapse yes
Uterine prolapses are harder to deal with than vaginal ones but may not reoccur. Vaginal prolapses will reoccur. 

[landroverroy]

 As she was an expensive ewe, I would give her another go.
I've had ewes prolapse one year, then been fine for subsequent lambings.
If she prolapses badly next year (and there's no guarantee she will do), and you can't cope yourself with a harness, you can always get her shot as an alternative to a vet's bill.
An ordinary cross bred ewe is worth putting in for meat and you can get a replacement with the money.
A well bred one costs a lot more to replace. 
But often, with just a few sheep, the final question is how fond you are of the actual sheep. I'll happily send some awkward old ewe, that fights me every inch of the way, to slaughter. But one that trustingly stands there, confident that I'm trying to help her, - well I'll give her another chance. 

[Emmam]

Apologies if I got it wrong - it was 5 years ago now.  Good luck with whatever you decide.   However, having had no sleep last night, as 5 ewes decided to pop, the less problems the better for everyone (ewe and shepherd alike).  A ewe that lambs easily, is milky and a good mother, is worth her weight in gold.

[Me]

Ok so apologies to those who know all this and to those who disagree the opposite of apologies!

Vaginal and Uterine prolapses though both prolapses generally are not related and do not happen in similar circumstances. None of the vaginal prolapses I have dealt with at home or in work have to my knowledge also suffered a uterine prolapse after lambing or calving (though this must happen on occasion).

If the closed cervix of the sheep sits about 4" in with the balloon of the pregnant uterus behind it and the walls of the vagina in front and the pressure on the cervix from fat, gravity, pregnancy, or whatever are too much for the supporting tissues to stand they break down and the cervix (still closed) pops out to say hello. This appears as a shiny pink ball and is a vaginal prolapse being the everted vagina and cervix in the middle stopping the prolapse progressing further until lambing. When the pressure behind is relieved by lambing the vagina pops back in (generally) and all appears ok until pressure increases again (maybe with the next pregnancy) and the damaged tissues will almost always give in and out it pops - again.

For a uterus to be able to prolapse the cervix must be open or it can't get out and there cannot be a lamb in it really as when it prolapses it is then the balloon but inside out, tethered back to the cervix.
So; the uterus is not heaved out by the ewe, it is not pushed out by pressure it tends to be a different mechanism as it must first flop/fold in on itself from the far head end of the ewe/cow, it then feeds itself out, this can happen because there is little uterine tone due to low calcium, possibly protracted labour or after serious foetal oversize. When these are replaced and reoccur straight away usually it is because the underlying problem of low calcium has not been addressed or because the useless vet didn't get the horn to quite pop back out and it fed itself out again. Often these do not reoccur. Hence "may not reoccur" notice the word "may" in contrast the vaginal prolapse nearly always will reoccur notice the word "nearly"

[kanisha]

never had to deal with either but thank you for the explanation 

[SallyintNorth]

Brilliantly clear explanation, 'Me' - thank you.

[in the hills]

Thank you 'Me'.