On Sunday when I went out to feed I saw that one of my ewes was stuck on her back out in the pasture. She was not moving- "my heart leaped"- and I knew exactly who is was. Silvia, one of the ewes who was AI'ed this fall, a nice older ewe (9) who still had lots of milk and really nice lambs last summer. I ran over to her expecting her to be dead (I had one one year that got stuck and died) but she wasn't! I righted her and she could barely walk. She stumbled and held her head to the side. Oh no! I thought (I know some people who's sheep have died after being stuck if they were stuck for too long) then she staggered over to where everyone else was eating their hay. Ok. So then I waited to see if she would eat any hay. She simply lay down. I made her get up again and she lay down again. I also noticed that she was quivering so I decided to take her temperature, it was 101-within the normal range, and I gave her some keto drench (it has propylene glycol and vitamin B in it.) I took her back to the barn and put her in a temporary pen next to some doe kids that are staying in the barn. She showed interest in her hay and ate a small handful of grain (a treat for the ewes as they don't get any grain except at lambing and breeding.) I left her in the barn and then last night she was baaing at me and was wanting to get out. I put her out with the other girls and she was very happy and ate some hay!
Here she is waiting impatiently to get out.
I am so glad that your ewe is ok Laura. It always makes our heart skip a beat when we see one of our charges suffering. Happy endings are so nice.
ReplyDeleteGood to see that Silvia is ok. Hope she produces some nice AI lambs for you. Who did you AI her to?
ReplyDeleteWhew!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you found Silvia in time and that she recovered quickly from her ordeal. Best wishes for the AI lambs.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone.
ReplyDeleteTheresa, I bred Silvia to Drum Black as well as Fonteyn. Funzie (F1 Jings)and Swan got bred to Skeld and Forsythia (F2 Greyling) got bred to Jings.
I had the exact same thing happen with one of my pregnant ewes last spring. Scared the gee-whiz out of me. I was SO lucky to find her because she was behind the barn and I just happened to walk back there ~ I normally don't go back there!
ReplyDeleteP.S. This happened about a month before lambing and I was afraid she might lose her lambs but she delivered twins, with no problems a few weeks later.
I'm sure Silvia will be fine.
With the silkiness and luster of both Silvia and Swan, you should get some smashing fleeces out of those breedings! As you know, Cleggan is out of Fraiche (Swan daughter), so that will be very good match there. Fonteyn's will be lovely as well (I remember that ewe, even though it's been something like 7 years since I saw her!).
ReplyDeleteI'm using an F2 Drum ram with a gorgeous, crimpy, silky soft black fleece and am looking forward to his lambs. Black, as we call him, is now friendly enough that he wags his tail just like Cleg does when his chin is scratched.
Theresa, your Black offspring should be really nice. I think I remember seeing his fleece sample. Tame, friendly rams are nice to have! Several of my boys wage their tails.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to seeing the AI lambs. (Funzie the F1 Jings is Fonteyn's daughter.) This time I focused more on size and overall conformation than I did in the past.
Thanks Nancy,
I usually feed at night in the dark (with a flash light), but since it was Sunday I got to feed early as I was not working. If I had fed in the dark I may not of seen her-I'm just glad I did!