Wow, a busy morning - placenta question

[Hykue]

I went back out to the barn to look at the dead lamb again and see if there was anything I could see and to pat mama . . . when I got there, one of my other ewes was clearly in hard labor.

Her healthy ram lamb was born about 30 minutes later.

I was there for the whole thing and have only left twice, once for 10 minutes. It has been two and a half hours since she birthed her lamb.

The placenta hasn't come out, unless it happened in that ten minutes and she ate it immediately. My sheep book doesn't have the words "placenta" or "afterbirth" in it anywhere that I can find.

How long do I wait before I'm worried that she's retained it? Maryland small ruminant page has a link that says six hours - do I have to watch her for that long to be sure she's expelled it?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

It's pretty easy to tell if she's passed it. If there's a long string of tissue (placenta) hanging from her vulva she hasn't passed it. If there's nothing hanging, she has. Don't worry too much, she should pass it by tomorrow.

 

[Hykue]

Thanks . . . I went back out a bit later, and it was lying in the straw. I'm relieved, I was really hoping to find it so I wouldn't worry forever about it.