[Jacob-list] worst lambing moment

[Paintedrockfarm at aol.com]

Hello to all -- We've just begun our lambing time but only have 6 "early"  
ones due; the remaining 40 ewes won't begin deliveries for another month or  so.
 
It's been interesting to read all the lambing exceptions and occasional  
problem Jacob births.  I do agree that this breed is such a wonderful  lamber and 
most ALL the time their births are simple without problems.  Of  course, 
nothing is perfect and there is the difficult/unexpected delivery and  assist from 
time to time -- actually we've had 2 majors in more than 5 years and  250+ 
lambs.
 
The first was during our first lambing season.  Followed lots of  "book" 
advice but did not take into account the size difference of Jacobs vs.  commercial 
breeds.  Ended up over feeding and a first time mom (bred as a  lamb) 
attempted delivery of a 13 1/2 lb. When we did a barn check 3 hours  earlier, all was 
fine but by daylight we had a problem.  The huge ram  (what is it about the 
most huge ones being rams???) was coming head first, both  legs tucked.  She 
must have begun labor minutes after we had left the barn  at 3 AM and had been 
trying to lamb outside for quite awhile.  We managed  to catch the ewe and 
restrain her.  The head was so swollen it was  physically impossible to push it 
back inside the ewe to reposition.  Called  the vet (another 2 hours went by 
before he arrived) and we tried off and on to  reposition this lamb with 
lubricant, gloved hands -- the whole works.  Even  the vet couldn't manage it.  The 
lamb died and did have to be dismembered  before it could finish being delivered 
-- a terrible ordeal for both lamb, ewe  and shepherds (one of whom was 
crying incessantly).  We traced the problem  back to overfeeding, with the help of 
our Jacob breeder friends.
 
The WORST delivery we had, however, was a couple of years ago.  Proven  mom, 
always twinned began the ground pawing, running other sheep out of the barn  
corner she had selected to deliver, etc.  Several hours went by with no  other 
signs of imminent delivery.  Later that evening she even ate!  About 9 PM, the 
ewe started leaking fluid from her water bag.  I watched  her for 2 hours, 
since now she seemed more intent on actually doing something,  laying down and 
pushing but still no progress.  BY 11:30 PM and 2 hours of  hard labor, no 
lambs, no water bag and just leaking fluid, we restrained the ewe  and did a check 
of things.  Much to our surprise, we find a backbone --  this lamb was laying 
across the pelvic opening!  This ewe was pretty petite  overall and there 
wasn't a lot of room for repositioning but we did manage  to get a hold of both 
back legs, pulling them out one at a time.  The rest  of the delivery went 
smoothly and out came an enormous RAM lamb weighing about  13-14 lbs.  It was a 
single birth (obviously) but the ewe failed to  conceive the following year.  A 
vet consult revealed internal scarring from  where the ewe had literally 
pushed the lamb bent nose to tail as far into the  birth canal as it would go.  The 
lamb could not immediately rise like most  Jacobs but we placed him towards 
his dam, where she cleaned him even though  quite exhausted.  The lamb was 
literally bent in a C shape for about 2  days, laying down, standing up didn't 
seem to matter.  As the days went by,  however, he straightened out and was a 
normal lamb.  We did notice a  permanent hip problem upon examination that was 
present thru adulthood.   His hips were not balanced and seemed to have a 
dislocation of one rear leg,  although he walked on all fours w/o limping.  The 
stride was a bit shorter  with that one leg, everything else normal.
 
Since having gone thru that one, we've not had anything else of that  
magnitude.  An occasional rear legs first, or one leg tucked but nothing  major -- 
thank GOD!  Jacobs are such amazing animals!  My husband  reminds me they have 
been lambing for thousands of years w/o me so they will be  fine.  We have 
security cameras in the barn with sound and the monitor in  the house.  Barn 
checks are carried out in this manor thru the nights every  couple of hours. It 
seems to keep the ewes more settled by not having the  shepherds head poking in 
on them, turning on the lights every few hours.   It always seems most of them 
like this one corner stall to lamb in so one camera  is pointed that direction.
 
We've witnessed about 90% of our lamb births and I'm always amazed at Our  
Creator's grand design of the birthing process.  We are truly blessed to be  
shepherds of such a wonderful breed of sheep!
Mike  & Cheryl Terrano
_Painted Rock Farm_ (http://members.aol.com/paintedrockfarm) 

Route 4 Box  726
Buckhannon, WV 26201-9205
(304) 457-6620  
paintedrockfarm at aol.com 
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