[Smee]

One of my favourite ewes looked as though she was lambing Tuesday but it turned out to be a prolapse. Not having experienced a prolapse before we loaded her up took her to the vet who laughed at the size of her  - she is a biggg ewe part suffolk/zwartble cross. Decided that he couldn't fit a harness on her as she's too big and the prolapse had gone in anyway during the journey. He thought she would lamb within the next 48 hours although she has been scanned as due mid-march. Took her home and sure enough she prolapsed again that night. Managed to get it cleaned up and all back in. Fitted the harness with some inventive baling twine additions.... now she appears to have a puffy swelling of her lady bits through the 'window' of the harness (more than the usual swelling that happens near lambing). Is this caused by chaffing or a small prolapse or something else? All our vets are flat out at the mo so while I am waiting for a call back was wondering if anyone had any advice on what to do about this to make her comfortable? I'm cleaning the harness out at intervals as bits of poo gets stuck a bit inside and I've coated the puffy bits with sudocrem to protect it from the cold and wind. She is hugely bagged up but doesnt seem near lambing down. Any help appreciated.

[Sbom]

Give her some metacam, it’s pain killer and anti inflammatory so will help a little. Unfortunately it’s just a waiting game then

[Smee]

Thanks - got metacam now. Vet advised taking harness off to see what she did.... but she started to prolapse agin when lying down, so harness back on and as you say a waiting game now.....

[Bionic]

Smee,  is she on flat or sloping ground? If it's sloping can you get her on some flat land. They always lay with the back ends down the slop and gravity doesn't help the prolapse stay in.


The vet advised us to get ours on the flat and we brought her and a mate into the stable yard. Easier to keep an eye on her there too.

[Sbom]

Thanks - got metacam now. Vet advised taking harness off to see what she did.... but she started to prolapse agin when lying down, so harness back on and as you say a waiting game now.....

Obviously the vet had never seen a ewe strain at her prolapse so had that it ruptured and her guts spill out!
Definitely keep it on ? it’s not worth the risk and they can lamb through it

[bj_cardiff]

Your vet sounds like a muppet.. Prolapses can pop in and out, the fact that you travelled to the surgery and gave up on trying to fit a harness was just silly and its pretty obvious to anyone that's dealt with a prolapse that it would come out again. I think it was also pretty stupid to advise taking he harness off and seeing what happens.. I'd ask a different vets or experienced large animal vet to come out and advise you. In the meantime keep the harness on!

[Marches Farmer]

Why on earth would the vet think that the prolapse would disappear when the lambs are getting bigger every day?  Clean up the prolapse (I use a little Savlon, which is a gentle disinfectant, diluted with warm water and very gently dabbed on with proper cotton wool (no polyester), discarding each piece rather than rinsing out.  Put everything back together and keep the harness on.  When the lambs are ready to be born they'll shift into position and take the pressure off.  I wouldn't breed from her again, though.

[bazzais]

I wouldn't keep taking it in and out to clean muck off the outside - its likely to agitate her.
Keep an eye out for lambing - its been known to 'catch' the lamb round the neck.

Its very strange for the vet not to go through the process with you. A 10 minute session could have saved you alot of stress and time.

[Sweatyfarmer]

My experience of a prolapse is rarely good and always best to cull thereafter. The harness is ok in certain circumstances but can be problematic. I think stitching is better in particular if you can keep a close eye on the ewe and cut when due to lamb.

[SallyintNorth]

I’ve found a spoon to work well if correctly fitted. They have the big advantage that the ewe can lamb through them with no problems.

I always give antibiotics to a ewe who prolapses, and of course thoroughly clean it before replacing it, and use clean hands, spoon, plenty of lube.

I’m not a fan of stitching unless the sheep is indoors with a shepherd in attendance 24x7.  It’s plain inhumane for her to start to lamb with the stitches still in place, and not every ewe gives clear indication that she’s imminent. 

I know a lot of people on here have found that prolapsers are repeat offenders but my own experience had been largely different. 

[firther]

+1 for spoon, I know quite a few people are against them but personally I've never had a problem and sheep always seem comfortable with them

[Jukes Mum]

I know a lot of people on here have found that prolapsers are repeat offenders but my own experience had been largely different.

Ooo this sounds promising. Can you share more?

[SallyintNorth]

I know a lot of people on here have found that prolapsers are repeat offenders but my own experience had been largely different.

Ooo this sounds promising. Can you share more?

If you do a search for 'prolapse' by 'SallyIntNorth' in 'Sheep', you'll get the stories many times!


Here's a selection of the times I've written about it:

https://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=50327.msg441006#msg441006
https://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=57168.msg484367#msg484367
https://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=57147.msg484204#msg484204

One of the things which has occurred to me as I looked through these old posts is that when a ewe has been carrying stupidly large lambs, it behooves us (anyway, but especially if she prolapsed during pregnancy) to think about why her lambs were so large.  Often it's tup genetics, feeding or other management, so we can address that, and see that we have a reason to think she would not struggle similarly again.  But if it seems to be the ewe's genetics, then I'd say cull, every time, and don't keep her daughters on either.

But one factor I think about a lot is getting sufficient nutriment into the ewe as her lambs grow, without forcing her to eat lots of bulky forage.  So if the lambs are likely to be large (and or plentiful ), give her plenty of cake, sugar in non bulky form (eg molasses), etc.

When we had Swaledale Mules going to a good Beltex tup, we were advised that by the final month of gestation we should be giving them both cake and hay twice a day, so that they could take on the nutrients they needed in two sessions rather than trying to cram it all in in one.

[Smee]

Thanks all, as ever, for the support and advice. Again its been another learning curve. I'm pleased to report that she lambed twins a couple of days ago. Both large ram lambs and both needed assistance. I was worried about the harness being on and not catching her in labour quickly enough but I know now that it is possible to lamb through the harness    but obviously its best to get it off as soon as poss. So she was 'shedded' and she was watched constantly on lambcam ! She seems fine now fingers crossed. She has lambed perfectly well in the past so I'm interested in the comments above. Two things that have changed with the flock is that we moved from a high altitude area to down near the sea( = much better grass and more.... ) also a new tup being used this year. I've been giving a bit of hard feed and buckets. Maybe this is a bit much. Lambing has been a bit of a trial this year  Can I blame it on the weather?