# Ewe abortion - possibly due to trauma?



## ErikaW (Mar 21, 2014)

Hello.  I've read this thread for years, and greatly appreciate all the help it's given me in raising my Shetland sheep.

I regret that I've finally actually joined because I could REALLY use some feedback, as opposed to just to say hello.

I have three ewes that are pregnant (well, two now).  One aborted last night.  I went in the barn to let them out (got VERY cold last night and they were recently sheared) and found it.  It's the first abortion I've seen.  The poor lamb was still in the sac.  It was a VERY clean looking sac, clear, not brown at all.  Could see the lamb perfectly through it. 

The ewe seems perfectly fine.  She lambed last year with no problems at all.

I had been worried about this this particular ewe because after shearing my one ewe was being VERY aggressive with her.  Okay... so names.  Elsie is the aggressive one, Clara is the one that just aborted.

Elsie is very much the dominate ewe of the bunch.  After shearing, Elsie was establishing her dominance for sure.  I know sheep usually reestablish pecking order after shearing, even though the same ones usually end up on top, so i didn't think much of it.

But over the next few days, it seemed to be a bit extreme.  Elsie was being pretty aggressive.  Head-butting Clara in the side quite a few times.  

So I'm thinking what probably happened is the lamb died from trauma.  

Which is horrible, because I could have easily prevented it by separating them (hindsight... I know) but also makes me less worried about it being passed to the other sheep.

I have cleaned and disinfected the area the abortion happened in and separated the ewe that aborted from the other two sheep, just in case.

Does anyone have any suggestions of anything else I should do?  Do you suggest administering oxytetracycline just in case?

I really appreciate any words of wisdom that anyone has.


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## norseofcourse (Mar 21, 2014)

I don't have any words of wisdom, but I wanted to say welcome to Backyard Herds, and I wish it was under happier circumstances.  Sorry about the lamb that was lost


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## alsea1 (Mar 21, 2014)

I would just keep an eye on the others. not much else you do


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