Sometime between last night and this morning this 3-year old ewe broke her front leg. I have no idea how; there is nothing to trip over in the small corral they are confined in at night. No one was spooking them. I just noticed that this morning the leg is dangling from the knee down. To complicate matters, she has gone into labor 5 days early. Normally I would want her to get up, move around, and wiggle those lambs into the birth canal. With a broken leg, her weight is almost more than three legs can support and getting up and down is a struggle. I have not physically examined her leg yet because I think that she needs to get the lambs born before I stress her with an exam. I am waiting for a call-back from the vet but I don't expect a lot of support there.
She is in early labor--that blank gaze, zen sort of place they go. She has separated herself from the group and is having early contractions. She is chewing her cud, which is a good sign. I can only imagine that the leg must hurt like hell since it must remain bent at the knee while lying down. (If I'm lucky, perhaps the knee will only be dislocated rather than broken.) The leg does not appear to be swollen. I am concerned that 1) she is not active enough to facilitate the birthing; 2) lambs coming 5 days early will cause complications; 3) the ewe will not be able to stand frequently enough to nurse her lambs; 4) she's been so stressed that it will disrupt the normal birthing sequence. I have a lot of other worries that swarm around those four like angry bees. I don't want to have to take the lambs Caesarian. I don't want bottle lambs in December. I don't want to lose a good Barbados Blackbelly ewe.
I have confined her and the other five pregnant ewes in the corral so that she doesn't get stressed and try to follow them when they go out to graze. I'm checking on her every hour. I had been pressuring her to at least get up and take a few steps, but now I'm reluctant to do that because I don't know which is the greater evil--not moving or moving.
Any ideas?
Carol
Carol Elkins Critterhaven Estate Registered Barbados Blackbelly Hair Sheep (no shear, no dock, no fuss) Pueblo, Colorado http://www.critterhaven.biz T-shirts, mugs, caps, and more at the Barbados Blackbelly Online Store http://www.cafepress.com/blackbellysheep
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