Hope Ross is on the forum! I've been waiting on our Suffolk ewe, Lambchop all day, she's about ten days or so early, and HUGE. She's definitely in labor, and I've tried to go in and see if maybe the lamb or lambs are in a difficult position, but her cervix doesn't seem to be dialating much. She'll get up, walk around the building, go back inside and lie down, then every half hour or more, she'll give a few really hard pushes, but no progress. Gave her some Lute about two hours ago, still nothing, and I understand it can take up to 36 hours to work. I doubt that the lambs would still be viable after that long.???? She doesn't seem in real distress, but I hate to wait until it's too late for her. Any suggestions? Not her first lambing, by the way, she's five years old, had triplets last year without any problems. Jan in CO Update: After all night, poor Lambchop never did dilate, so had a C section this morning. Three full term ram lambs, but lost them all. Alive when they brought them out, but too much fluid in their lungs, and the vet could not keep them breathing. Mother back home, doing well, but that $300 shoots the bottom out of the lamb profits for the year when you only have a small flock! Thanks for the help, Jan
If she's early the lambs are better inside than out. How certain are you? So long as the lambs are not partly birthed they'll be OK so waiting won't hurt. I'd get her penned and restrict her hay a bit so she isn't getting undue presure from inside, keep her grain ration the same or up it slightly and hold on as long as the lute will let you or she obviously needs help.
Thank you, Ross--I hate being so wishy washy, she seems ok, just tired, not unduly stressed yet. I know for sure the date I put the ram in with the ewes, and when he came out, but didn't have a marking harness/crayon set up, so only have breeding dates written down on the ones I actually witnessed, and her's I didn't. Just going on the earliest date the ram was in the pen, which was October 12th. I used the goat breeding calculator to estimate about the 9th or March or a bit earlier, since it's figured on a 150 day gestation. We're hooked up to the trailer and ready to go if she needs to have a c section, but I'm hoping not! Thanks for the reassurance, I'll keep you posted. Jan in Co
