DEAD! 2nd or 3 White Dorper DEAD!

[aggieterpkatie]

Most likely the ewe died from being stressed, and when the muscles relaxed, the "bubble' appeared. A real prolapse does not look like a bubble, it looks a lot worse than that. The wool wouldn't have hurt the ewe anyway. Trying to remove it in extreme heat was what most likely killed her. As long as sheep have access to plenty of cold water, shade, a breeze, and are not unduly stressed, they usually are fine.

That's exactly what I was going to say. I'm betting it just stressed her too much and she couldn't take the stress combined with the heat. When her body relaxed that's when she prolapsed. A prolapse would not kill a sheep like that.

Sorry Rock. You're having a rough go of it lately and that sucks.

 

[rockdoveranch]

I woke up feeling like I had been thrust into a Salvador Dali painting with objects towering over me and coming at me. Last night seems so surreal.

I don't know what was happening when I was trying to post. I swear the first post had copy in it along with the pictures as I know I previewed it first before submitting, but then there was no copy after at least one person replied. When I saw there was not copy I went back to edit it adding words, and ended up with two posts with pictures and copy. But that did not seem to happen at first. Oh well. The OP is there now.

We have had sheep for almost 7 years. I know that is not a long time, but we are having things happen that have never happened before.

Are some breeds more likely to die from stress than others? How can this happen so quickly? Why has this never happened before? Did we pick the right breed for what we wanted, a hearty, meat hair sheep, but picked the wrong breeder?

We considered not trying to cut her wool back because we did not want to stress the ewes that are still pregnant while we were separating the one that died from the herd. As it turned out, none of the pregnant ewes walked into the pen so we brought her on into the working pen. We were going to have to cull her anyway because she was not what we bargained for in a hair sheep. But having her die like this, I feel so responsible and bad.

I agree in that it was not the rectum starting to prolapse that killed her because, after looking at pictures, it was just starting. None-the-less we will never buy another lamb with no tail again. If it is docked it is going to have to cover the rectum and vulva.

I will let you know if I hear back from the breeder. My bet is that he will not respond. I hope he proves me wrong.

Thanks for listening.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Her tail was docked pretty short, and it seems silly to me to dock hair sheep anyways, unless you're showing.

Don't beat yourself up about it. Sometimes animals just die. My former boss sheared sheep and once had one die on him. He felt bad but there was no way to know that sheep was going to die beforehand.

 

[20kidsonhill]

What I know about prolpses, is they can occur during times of stress, like a lot of coughing, and they are more likely to occur if the tails have been cut too short.
We had a prolapse lamb this summer, and she had it for about a month before we fixed it, and she is doing just fine. She only went off feed for a couple days, otherwise seemed perfectly fine. It was hanging out a good 6 inches by the time we fixed it.

I don't think the prolapse would kill her, especially sense it was hanging out prior to you trying to shear her, it can become impacted and not allow them to go to the bathroom, and they would go off feed and look horrible for a couple days then die.

 

[Bossroo]

Only an observation and learning experience... Texas has been in a draught for several years... poor quality/ dry pasture feed + @ 2" of wool only on the back ( sides and belly wool already shed,from evening photo) + late stage of prenancy ( photo from that evening) + muscles in rear end starting to relax due to late stage of pregnancy in preperation of impending birth + 99* +/- , + chaceing in working pen producing more body heat and stress + holding down to remove back wool ( more body heat and stress) + dehydration from above preveous factors = severe heat stress and overheating resulting in lack of oxygen in the bloodstream causing the brain cells to finally shut down and die. Prolapse is the result of final stages of stress due to above episodes. I have seen the " big pink bubble of shiny flesh comming out of the rectum" in post mortem exams in all classes of animals that died under similar conditions in pre and post mortem situations. ie. stress and overheating resulting in gut flora rapidly reproducing causing excess intestinal gas to very rapidly increase (as in colic) then try to escape as the presure builds up causing loose ( weakened) rectum muscles to severely streatch resulting in the expelling of the intestine. All types/ breeds of sheep as well as all classes of mammals will succumb under these similar types of conditions but to what degree will depend on indivuduals. I personally have worked with and been around friends' flocks of well over a THAUSAND short docked ( no tail remaining) Suffolk and Hampshire ewes over the years. Of those, I have seen TWO that had a prolapsed uterus after a difficult birth of twins/triplets. and THREE with a prolapsed anal intesine after severe bouts of bloat from very rich new pasture grass. Good luck.

 

[rockdoveranch]

Only an observation and learning experience... Texas has been in a draught for several years... poor quality/ dry pasture feed + @ 2" of wool only on the back ( sides and belly wool already shed,from evening photo) + late stage of prenancy ( photo from that evening) + muscles in rear end starting to relax due to late stage of pregnancy in preperation of impending birth + 99* +/- , + chaceing in working pen producing more body heat and stress + holding down to remove back wool ( more body heat and stress) + dehydration from above preveous factors = severe heat stress and overheating resulting in lack of oxygen in the bloodstream causing the brain cells to finally shut down and die. Prolapse is the result of final stages of stress due to above episodes. I have seen the " big pink bubble of shiny flesh comming out of the rectum" in post mortem exams in all classes of animals that died under similar conditions in pre and post mortem situations. ie. stress and overheating resulting in gut flora rapidly reproducing causing excess intestinal gas to very rapidly increase (as in colic) then try to escape as the presure builds up causing loose ( weakened) rectum muscles to severely streatch resulting in the expelling of the intestine. All types/ breeds of sheep as well as all classes of mammals will succumb under these similar types of conditions but to what degree will depend on indivuduals. I personally have worked with and been around friends' flocks of well over a THAUSAND short docked ( no tail remaining) Suffolk and Hampshire ewes over the years. Of those, I have seen TWO that had a prolapsed uterus after a difficult birth of twins/triplets. and THREE with a prolapsed anal intesine after severe bouts of bloat from very rich new pasture grass. Good luck.

Interesting information. I wish I had posted about getting that wool off of her before we tried.

She was not pregnant. She did not take when we had her and the other Dorper ewe in with the ram. The other ewe lambed 4-15-2011. This ewe never even began to bag out and we are more than 2 months out from when should would have lambed. The ram lambs she was with now are just now about old enough to breed. She is just fat from grazing all day.

We have one Barbado ewe that is a late shedder, but when you look at her she looks like she is covered with brown cotton balls that I can easily pull out. I do not believe this Dorper, if she really was a Dorper, was going to shed. Her wool, even at the edge on the short hair, did not pull out. As I was cutting the wool away, the wool under the dirty wool was almost a golden yellow. I guess I was seeing lanolin.

We killed her! I don't like learning the hard way.

 

[doxiemoxie]

A vet I once worked with told me that "sheep are always looking for a reason to die" and that even when you're trying to save them that can be the stressor that pushes them over the edge. Please be gentle with yourself about this. Your intentions were good, your actions were not unrational or even ignorant. I am so sorry you have to endure this. Prayers and hugs!

 

[rockdoveranch]

A vet I once worked with told me that "sheep are always looking for a reason to die" and that even when you're trying to save them that can be the stressor that pushes them over the edge. Please be gentle with yourself about this. Your intentions were good, your actions were not unrational or even ignorant. I am so sorry you have to endure this. Prayers and hugs!

Thanks.

 

[Beekissed]

She could have had a vasovagal response to the added stress, heat and the sitting position. If she did it can slow the heart down to the point of no return. They both could have had genetic flaws such as congenital heart defects, who knows?

I would avoid this breeder for the simple fact that he docks a hair breed's tails. Not necessary and obviously didn't know where and how to dock to avoid prolapse. Not a knowledgable person from which to buy sheep, IMO.

I would get rid of any sheep bought there and start fresh. From everything I've seen of the Dorper breed, I've changed my mind quite a bit about their hardiness and abilities to blow their wool in the spring.

 

[carolinagirl]

I would get rid of any sheep bought there and start fresh. From everything I've seen of the Dorper breed, I've changed my mind quite a bit about their hardiness and abilities to blow their wool in the spring.

I am beginning to see that too. I guess it's a good thing I couldn't locate dorper lambs this spring and had to settle for Katahdins. So far, I am really happy with my katahdins.