[Jacob-list] chasing ewes

[Thomas Simmons]

Linda - 

I seperated everybody from the poor ewe when I realized it was a non-stop thing for the poor girl.  I though she had about two week to go when she aborted.  When she aborted, one little lamb was dead upon delivery, and his lips had not fully formed yet; I assumed that his in-utero death had caused the discharge.  His twin sister was alive and fought, but she died about 12 hours after birth.

Frankly, I could not figure out whether chasing the ewe caused a lamb to die, and then the subsequent expulsion, or whether one lamb had died and the discharge was a warning sign that alerted the other animals.  This poor ewe also prolapsed (NOTHING went right with this poor gal).  She is back to health now, but she won't be bred again.  I doubt she'll survive the next trip to the slaughterhouse, actually . . .

Wish I had a better answer, but that's all I know.  I suppose if i knew precisely when a lambs lips are completlely fromed, that might tell me whether the one lamb died some time time before the expulsion or at the time the ewe was being chased.  Any ideas?

thom
    -----Original Message-----
    From: wolfpen <wolfpen at alltel.net>
    To: Thomas Simmons <creagchild at monad.net>; *Jacob discussion group <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
    Date: Monday, April 17, 2000 7:20 PM
    Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] chasing ewes
    
    
    Thanks Thom
    
    I did check her yesterday when this started and also today.  She has no discharge.  Was your ewe due at the time the others were chasing her?  I separated her so they can't chase her anymore.  Did you separate the chasers from the chasee?  I'm just wondering if you think it was the chasing that caused the abortion or that the lambs were responding to something being wrong.  
    
    Linda
        ----- Original Message ----- 
        From: Thomas Simmons 
        To: wolfpen ; *Jacob discussion group 
        Sent: 17 April, 2000 6:16 PM
        Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] chasing ewes
        
        
        Linda - 
         
        I had this happen to a Shetland to spring; the rams were, as you said, "chasing her like a pack of dogs."  Upon close inspection, she was emitting a thick milky discharge; she aborted several days later. Don't know if there was a relationship between the events, but my other ewes - who lambed perfectly fine - were not chased like the opor Shetland was.
         
        thom
            -----Original Message-----
            From: wolfpen <wolfpen at alltel.net>
            To: *Jacob discussion group <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
            Date: Monday, April 17, 2000 9:36 AM
            Subject: [Jacob-list] chasing ewes
            
            
            I have a yearling ewe due to lamb any day now.  My earlier ram lambs (aged 4 to 6 weeks) are running her.  I frequently notice lambs sniffing a ewe when she is close to lambing.  But these boys are running her like a pack of dogs.  When she butts one lamb, the others jump at her from another direction.  I do think that in her advanced stage of pregnancy and the fact that it's warm here now could lead to some problems. Obviously I have separated them now.  Over the past two days, I have three times tried to put them back together and the same thing happens.  I'm not going to try it again.  I just wondered if anyone else has seen this.  
            
            Linda
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20000417/9e511011/attachment.html