Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

We had to take one of my favorite senior ewes to the vet this morning. I thought she was going into labor Saturday evening just about sundown but upon going out Sunday morning, she still hasn't dilated. There is no vet available Sunday so had no choice but to wait and see what happened overnight. She still had not dilated this morning but she would not take any food or water so we got the trailer and loaded her up. I wasn't feeling any lamb movement and the vet wasn't wanting to do an ultrasound to find out the status. He said he could give her a shot to induce labor or do a C section. We told him to do whichever he thought was best for the ewe so we shall see. I briefly thought about putting her down at home but couldn't make myself do it.

 

[Baymule]

I hope she is ok but it doesn’t sound good. I wouldn’t be able to put one of mine down either.

 

[Mike CHS]

Teresa called the feed store that we have been using for years only to find out they quit doing the custom feed blend that we have been buying. They have completely shut down milling any feed and had to switch over to buying it from another outfit since they don't have any available labor.

 

[farmerjan]

Hope that the vet can get her situation figured out. C-section to me would be the best if she was not dilating..... inducing without dilation is not a good outcome. No matter the outcome, you will have a vet bill that hopefully they can save the ewe and you can get some salvage value back. It is a tough call to put one down. BTDT.

 

[Mike CHS]

Doc just called and we can pick the ewe up with her twins around 7:00. He said she was definitely getting ready to abort so he did a C section. We have a stall all set up so she can do some recovery in peace.

 

[farmerjan]

WOW..... saved her and her TWINS...... bless the vet for pulling that one off. Just one of those weird things... she may have eaten something that you would never have worried about... could have been who knows what reason.... Hope she recovers and that she can raise them. Then, favorite or not, time to go and hopefully you have some of her daughters etc to keep. Being a sr ewe, you make those hard decisions... but it says alot of how in tune to your sheep you are that you were able to catch it and save her even with the delay over the weekend.

 

[Baymule]

Wow, thanks to your observation, you knew something was wrong with her. Then the vet saved her and the lambs too. I hope she can raise them and that you don't have to.

 

[Mike CHS]

We just got back home with the ewe and her lambs. She was still pretty much out of it when we got to the vets barn so we don't know if the lambs have nursed or not so we will take some colostrum down to them. They are all set up with heat lamps for her and the lambs since there is a large area on her side that they had to shave to get at the lambs. I never thought about it before but I had no idea they did the C section on the side of the ewe.

Thankful for good neighbors that followed us there to help load. We literally had to almost carry her to the trailer but fortunately she was more back to herself by the time we got home so she followed us and her lambs into the stall. She is eating good but we will give her some nutra drench to help her along. She has imprinted on the lambs already so if need be we will do the same with her as Little Bit

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Some vets don't like to do mid-line incisions because of the chance that the incision line will herniate with the pressure of another pregnancy. They don't do right side incisions because it's hard to hold a lot of intestines inside when you make the incision. It's much easier to hold a big ol' rumen in place while you get those babies out.

Unfortunately, I've had too much experience with c-sections when I first started raising pygmy goats. However, I've had does go on to have a natural birth after a C-section also.

I hope she and the babies do well for you!

 

[Mike CHS]

The babies took to the bottle like pros and they figured out where the warm spot is under the heat lamps.