Yearling ram died tonight--Why??

Southdown

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Tonight was absolutely terrible! Leroy our yearling ram suddenly died. We have no idea why or what happened. I am so depressed about it and completely confused. :( We let him out with our older ram tonight to go graze on pasture for the first time since last Fall. So we walked them over to the fenced pasture and let the two of them inside to eat. We should have waited and watched them for a few minutes, but we left right away to go let some other sheep out to a different area. We were watching the other sheep grazing and came back maybe 20 minutes later, only to find Leroy dead! He was laying on his side, tongue hanging out, and bright green liquid oozing out of the mouth and nostrils. He was not breathing, but still warm. We had just let them out only 20 minutes or so ago. I just really need to know what happened. He was only one year old, current on CDT vaccinations. My first thought was that maybe the other ram killed him. The other ram is much bigger and maybe they fought once they had room to run. But my husband thinks that if they fought, he wouldn't have died so quickly. I'm not sure. On the other hand, I was wondering if sheep can get bloat like dogs do? The fact that he had stomach contents oozing out and he also had defecated. Another idea I had was maybe he got so excited about the fresh grass that he choked on it and suffocated? My husband thought maybe he could have had a heart attack. I honestly don't know much about sheep diseases. Gosh, this is so hard for me. We've had lambs die, but never a grown sheep yet. Please, any ideas on what could have caused his death?
 

Royd Wood

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So sorry to hear this. Dont think its bloat as I would expect that to take longer than 20 minutes to develop. Heart attack is a poss
:( :( :(
 

daisychick

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Maybe it took a hard hit from the older ram and died instantly. :( sorry you lost him. :hugs
 

aggieterpkatie

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jhm47 said:
Grass tetany.
Do you think that would have killed him so quickly? We had a cow with it once, and she was down when we found her. We treated her and she bounced back right away almost.

Were the 2 rams kept together all the time? My first thought was that the bigger ram hit him and killed him. It could happen pretty quickly. He had rumen fluid (the green stuff) and fecal matter because when they die all their muscles relax and stuff comes out that's normally held in.

So sorry this happened though, and if you want a definite answer you'll have to have him posted (get a necropsy done). All we can do is speculate. :hugs
 

jhm47

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Severe cases of grass tetany can result in very quick deaths. I've seen cattle die in less than 15 minutes. I don't know if sheep would be that fast or faster, but it seems reasonable.
 

SheepGirl

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I think that maybe the other ram might've hit him in the right spot to kill him instantly.
 

Southdown

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We had Leroy with the older ram for a few weeks in a small pen together. I would hope they had established their pecking order in that small pen. However, once we let them outside they had plenty of room to make a run for it. I just really hope that's not what happened. Would there be any clues? How do people have two or more rams together at all if they will just kill each other? Is it normal/common for rams to actually fight to the death?? How or where would the ram get him that would be able to kill him instantly? Breaking his neck?

The fact that he was only let out for 20-30 minutes, it happened rather quickly. When we found him, it seemed he had a lot of gas/air in him. Sorry about being graphic, but he kind of gurgled as the fluids came out. There was no blood, the neck was limp. No signs of running in the grass. The grass was flattened in a circle where we found him laying and that was it. He had access to sheep mineral in his pen, so I wouldn't think he was deficient in magnesium. Would that prevent the grass tetany if he had magnesium in his minerals? Someone mentioned if we have bees and maybe he could have been stung. Yes, we do have honeybees and maybe he got stung in the mouth or something. When my husband discovered him laying on his side, he said the other ram was off in a different area and not lingering by him. But then again, maybe he won the battle and left? Well, now the ram is alone with no companion and he seems like a grump tonight. I'm not sure who I can even put with him for a companion safely? What's even more bizarre is that he ate the green hay I fed him after work, shortly before they got let out to the pasture. There were no signs of illness. I'm just kicking myself for not waiting a few minutes to watch them before I left for some other sheep. We didn't hear any noises.
 

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