J.O. Farmer wrote: » If I read that right 7 ewes have lambed 4 you say were early yet 6 of these have at least 2 lambs alive and only 1 has no lamb as both her lambs died. Firstly I think you need to relax if you think that is very bad and be thankful that you've had such a good run before this. I'll be happy with that kind of return if I get it. Very bad would be all those ewes having lambs dying and maybe finishing up with 4 or 5 lambs from 7 ewes with a ewe or 2 dead too not the 13 lambs and 7 ewes alive I make it. By all means get a PM done but are you sure about the dates on the 4 and do the lambs look premature.
tomwaterford wrote: » Has anything happened to stress them out?? Any sudden changes in diet/dog scare them?
Farmer Dan wrote: » I've 40 ewes to lamb & things are going very bad for the first year ever. First three ewes due Lambed perfectly last weekend. Triplets & two twins. The last two days 4 ewes Lambed that weren't due until the 7th March. One triplet, two of tge lambs OK the other was dead a while, two sets of twins , the lambs were OK & one set of twins one lamb dead a while the other small, weak & died. Feed the same as every year, never vaccinate for abortion. The only thing I can think of is a guy up the road has a field that he wanted me to graze, I housed the ewes from here. There use to be greyhounds kept in this field upto a few years ago. I'm going to get pm done next week. Any other advice / suggestions? Thanks in advance.
Farmer Dan wrote: » Thanks for reply. No on same diet all along. There housed since after Christmas .
tomwaterford wrote: » Are the lambs fully formed,hair on ears etc....as 2 weeks out seems along off the date?
Farmer Dan wrote: » There rouge lambs so hair do be scarce on there heads / ears. I can't figure it out. Never happened before & I'm nearly afraid to see a ewe starting to lamb incase it's a disaster.
roosky wrote: » i had ewes lamb early two years ago, about ten had twins and trips with one fine lamb and one wean or dead lamb and the dead lad was dead a while as in half mummified, Sounds similar enough to your story, my issue was toxo !
Farmer Dan wrote: » How did you fair out that year? How would they have gotten this if it is toxo?
rangler1 wrote: » Sheep farmers should be sterilised before touching the wife
J.O. Farmer wrote: » I thought that sounded a bit harsh when there's other ways of avoiding pregnancy but then I read on and you said if she's pregnant and I realise you meant it in the sense of not carrying infection in to her from the sheep.
razor8 wrote: Did you get it confirmed by pm
adam14 wrote: » Too busy lambing to get to pm but vet is confident it is and had seen more signs of it in area
rangler1 wrote: » No schmallenberg confirmed yet in Athlone lab up to a week ago, hope it stays away from here We had lambs with all the symptoms of scmallenberg 5 or 6 years ago in the Dec/Jan lambers, lab even said it was but all the tests were negative so couldn't be confirmed. They were born alive with bent legs and no skin on their legs...sickening
tomwaterford wrote: » Had a bad dose of it myself the time aswell Lambs with solid leg joints,some big single lambs formed perfectly but tiny miniature legs A variety of shortened legs/fused (??) Bones in legs.... One with extreme deformity....4 mini ears,one big eye and a mouth....but also a tongue out through side of skull....this lamb came out alive Absolutely sickening having to leave lambs die/shoot perfectly formed new born lambs except maybe miniature front legs and they crawling around bawling....I felt like quitting sheep after it Reading that it might be back around makes my blood run cold tbh
mcgiggles wrote: » This schmallenberg.. only heard of it the other day, must look it up, is it contagious? We had a lamb born yesterday small but perfectly formed but her front legs don't straighten fully, its not the knees its the ankle joint.. (would you even call them that?) she was weak when born and not able to get up for a while, but is up and feeding now but not overly steady.. we wanted to see how she got on, himself is going to ask the vet about it, could it be something like that causing it?
mcgiggles wrote: This schmallenberg.. only heard of it the other day, must look it up, is it contagious? We had a lamb born yesterday small but perfectly formed but her front legs don't straighten fully, its not the knees its the ankle joint.. (would you even call them that?) she was weak when born and not able to get up for a while, but is up and feeding now but not overly steady.. we wanted to see how she got on, himself is going to ask the vet about it, could it be something like that causing it?
greysides wrote: There's talk of Schmallenberg showing up in spots around the SE.
