[Jacob-list] Unfortunate lambs

[ARTHUR PARTRIDGE]

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>One of my ewes aborted two lambs yesterday, and they were at very 

> different gestational stages.

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Perhaps, sometimes, it is just that particular ewe.  I had a ewe that had
healthy lambs every year for five years and then started to abort after
that.  No reason for it, that I could see.  It was just her.  The first
aborted lamb was nearly full term.  I thought the ewe was hit or something
and, perhaps, that caused the abortion.  I had her bred again and the next
year she aborted a lamb that was only a couple months developed.  I decided
to retire her, most folks would've culled her but she was one of my first
sheep purchases so she was a favorite.  She was accidently bred again and
this time the aborted lamb was only a watery mass of slime.  She was never
bred after that and lived to be fifteen years old.  The other ewes were
perfectly normal and all had no problems giving birth so it wasn't an
abortion storm or anything like that.  I was told to get rid of this ewe
after the first abortion in case she had something that could be passed on
to the other ewes.  I kept her, though, and it seemed to me that it wasn't
an infection or anything.  She was just a poor quality ewe.  Her daughters
didn't have this problem, but it is better not to have production ewes from
a ewe that is aborting every year...(duh.... <grin>)..

Cathy
Moscow, Idaho