Post lambing question.

[Springfieldzwartble]

Hi all, my first maiden ewe had a beautiful ewe lamb at some time between the 4am check and 5.30am. The lamb was dry and had fed. i watched the ewe for a good few hours after I discovered the lamb as my ewe continued to paw at the ground and have a few contractions which made me think she may have another but nothing has arrived. I didn't see any afterbirth but I suppose it is feasible that she munched that back before I got there. Should she still be pawing at the ground as if nest building after finishing lambing or should I be concerned? She has nibbled at some hay and drunk some water, she has not led down and really pushed at all tho. Hope someone can give me some advice.

 

[bonbean01]

Firstly....congratulations on that beautiful little lamb!!! Secondly, welcome to BYH!!!
About your ewe...if you are worried there is another one in there, you can glove up and lubricate and feel if anyone else is hiding in the birth canal. Or, it is possible that she is pawing to cover birthing fluid scents from predators...here once the placenta is passed...we pull out all bedding where the ewe lambed and when you do that, you may find some of the placenta...then we put in all fresh, clean bedding.

If there is a second lamb, chances are you'd see a water bag and she would be in labour...some people on here have "bounced" a mama to check for more lambs or kids...I've never done it, so hope someone answers about that soon.

My guess is she is covering the scent. If nothing more is hanging out of her, I'd go ahead and clean out all bedding and put in fresh.

 

[woodsie]

I agree with Bon…if she has fed the first one and is eating she likely is done. Unless she is really pushing or acting distressed I would just let her be. Of course you know your sheep the best and follow your gut but I would only go in if you were sure something seemed wrong.

 

[bonbean01]

I've never had a ewe that ate the whole placenta except once when coyotes were howling close by...but they do try to cover scent by pawing bedding over it and where the birthing fluids are. Cute thing we've seen is a newborn also pawing only because the mama is.

When you cleaned out the lambing jug, did you see any placenta?

Your lamb's face markings look very much like our last lamb born....white body instead of black, but also a little masked lambie.

 

[SheepGirl]

@bonbean01, you should name that lamb Zorro

My ewes paw the ground to get comfortable before they lay down so it's hard to say. My ewe lambed yesterday. I thought she was done after 2 but lo and behold 1.5 hrs later she popped out another one. And she ate and chewed cud in between the 2nd and 3rd one too! Crazy ewe...

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

How is your ewe now?
Usually if there is still the placenta, or another lamb in there, there would be something hanging out still!
BUT I suppose there are the odd cases where there is nothing! If you are worried, I would hold her and feel and see if there is anything there! Usually if there is another lamb, you will feel something in there only a finger length in, at the most six inches if it is stuck!
I have never had one that had another one in there, even if it was stuck, that didn't push and show signs of hard labour!
A lot of my ewes eat their placenta, so there is a very good chance that if there is nothing hanging out, she probably ate the afterbirth!
Hope all is good!

 

[Springfieldzwartble]

Thanks everyone, I did catch her up and do an internal. Only managed to get my hand in upto wrist as she was protesting and pushing my hand back out quite violently but I couldn't feel anything. She actually lambed in the main pen with 5 other ewes before I could get her in a clean jug. I Had a scratch about for placenta in main pen but no sign yet, would another ewe have got it??? She seemed to have calmed down a bit by the afternoon but she is still scratching up, almost straight through straw bedding down to concrete at times. Hope she doesn't give herself sore feet! Still eating and drinking and no bad smells yet so will keep monitoring her.
My husband thinks I worry too much and I start looking for problems that aren't actually there! I can't help it that I love my sheep, they are great listeners (unlike him!) and they don't talk back (unlike my kids!)x