Age of Ram Fertility

[she-earl]

I sold my breeding ram on Nov. 17th. My sheep are always in their pasture which is between our house and our heifer barn. The fence has no problems because I mow along it every week. The ewe very definitely lambed. I checked her at 4 a.m. when I went to feed the calves because she was not acting right the night before. She was standing in the barn. When I went back to the sheep barn to tend them after feeding the calves, she was laying in the barn with this "stuff" behind her. At first I assumed she must have prolapsed because the last thing I was expecting was a lamb. I went to investigate and found the lamb still mostly in the sac. She was just starting to get an udder. You could not see it but when I checked you could feel it. My triplet lambs born on 2/16 were small and this dead lamb was near the size of them. I don't know if it was born dead or died after being born. It had wool on it and I wonder if I had been right there when she lambed if I could have kept it alive. I am as puzzled as everyone else.

 

[neener92]

Is it possible she got pregnant then the lamb died close to birth. But she didn't actually have the Lamb until now even though it was dead? She basically held the lamb inside her since it wasnt growing anymore. Then being stressed started labor and she had the lamb.

That sounds confusing and very unlikely but I am just thinking outside the box.

I personally think this is what happened although you'd think the lamb would have rotted inside of her and killed her if it had been in there that long. We had a cow not to long ago carry a twin calf for one day after giving birth to the other, it had already started rotting inside of her, this didn't kill her. I've also had a pot belly pig carry three rotten piglets inside of her full term, they weren't even halfway developed.

Did the lamb smell bad at all other then the normal smell? You may not have noticed.

 

[she-earl]

No bad smell. My husband and I don't think she carried a dead lamb and then eventually had it. If she had, the lamb would have been rotting, she would have been sick, etc. We have dairy cows and are familiar with that type of situation. Is there any chance my breeding ram could have serviced her but the semen just "laid" there for whatever reason and she settled after he wasn't here anymore?

 

[Remuda1]

Been following this thread with interest, it's intriguing! If I were you, I would email the vets at Pipestone Vet. I had a ewe fertility question a few weeks ago (I've never purchased anything from them) and I'd heard you could email them so I tried it. I got my answer directly from one of their vets that actually has the same breed sheep that I do. And he was very congenial. I got the response the next day. Just an awesome resource. If you try it, I hope you'll post what you find out .

 

[kfacres]

pipestone is the best source of sheep knowledge in the USA. Very direct and to the point, with accuracy. I use them all the time for serious questions and stumpers...

I'm betting that GK will give you an answer quite similar to the one I did above- about something else being the cause.

There have been mummified lambs born before, not sure how long they can carry them-- but I think it's usually some sort of abortion deal- and they delivef them at the due date-- but the lamb had been dead for 2 months or so...

 

[boykin2010]

So, are you saying there is no one around you that could have had a ram escape and breed your ewe? I've heard of it happening before. You wouldn't believe what a ram would do to get to a ewe in heat.

 

[boykin2010]

Just thought of this scenario. I am not sure how reasonable it really is... Where are you located? Is it possible a wild sheep such as a bighorn bred your ewe? I do not know if that is even possible...

 

[she-earl]

We are located in SE PA so no wild sheep. Our fence is in super shape.

 

[Symphony]

I really don't think it was your ram lamb that got your ewe pregnant. Rams don't reach puberty until at LEAST four or five months old. They aren't like goats where they are known to breed at two months

But as for the lamb's size, it would naturally be small because of the ewe's age. If it was aborted three months early, it likely would've been a stillborn and be very tiny and have no wool on it whatsoever. However, because it was so fully developed, I think this lamb was a full-term baby (or close to it).

So I don't know. I think your sheep is weird to get pregnant right outta the blue like that

Have y'all ever considered there was no ram involved, period? Some types of animals can have young, with no males (when say males are short in abundance) . They are exact copies of their mother.

Now, call me crazy, but when my sister was studing zoo-olgy she learned bout it.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

It could be Lepto. Lepto causes abortions & is pretty much everywhere. The ewes either abort early or sometimes the lambs will die & stay inside for a while. Either way the lambs will be dead. Not much you can do about it. Normally the ewes will build an immunity to it. There is a vaccine out there.

Liz