£100 ceaser (ewe), is it worth it?

[notorious]

Cut her throat and eat while saying a prayer over her

 

[Leereade]

Mate of mine had a ewe ceasar last year carrying triplets I sed complete waste of money he sed hang on 3 lambs at average £75 plus also ewe at cull price £80 plus he sed of course he's going to pay it everything you do is a risk with sheep this obviously paid off I personally wouldn't bother but he found it works for him

 

[gone up the hill]

If the lambs are alive and you haven't been trying too long then yep its worth it!

Don't forget that ewe and lamb/s will be worth upwards of £160 + in a months time in the market as a couple!

Poor job if farmers start shooting sheep because of a difficult lambing ( unless the lambs have been dead for days and infection has set in then your better off cutting your loses )

Biggest problem with difficult lambings/ calvings is people try for far too long before calling the vet and by then the damage is already done!

 

[spin cycle]

better to take it yourself and go and play with girlfriend and let nature and time see what it can do for the ewe

hmmm...don't think the wife would like that and that would be expensive

 

[MJT]

Only ever done one Caesar, beltex ewe over a week overdue and had what felt like a calf inside her. £75 well spent, live ewe who has produced 3 litters since and a monster tup lamb which made £98 in market (no I didn't sell him for breeding before anyone asks ) no brainier if there is no other option with a ewe of that value. If it was a toothless wonder of a Welsh ewe with a right old mess inside then better to put out of her misery.

 

[Jackov Altraids]

I usually have a couple ceasars each year. I try to make a decision very quickly { oh feck, I'm never gonna get that out} and call the vet to have a go.
It's usually 50/50 then whether they can get them off or not. I get them to make the decision. Doing this the ewe hasn't had any trauma and the results are generally good.
Overall, it has paid but I like to think I do the best for my flock and put in as a flock expense rather than an individual, it is pence.

 

[The Devonshire Bloke!]

My grandad had one he couldn't get so called the vet she fiddled with it a bit than decided it needed a Caesarian I came back from the pub and found two vets a dead lamb and ewe! Apparently they cut her uterus so she had to be put down if I was home I bet I would have got it out! Feck knows what the bills gonna be!

 

[Gulli]

I was just going to post the same thing.

If the lambs are alive, I don't reckon to lose them. If they're dead & smelly, the chances are the ewe would have complications after a CS anyway.

The best result from a CS, over the DIY method, is to have a cull ewe at the end of it. She may have reared a lamb, or perhaps two halfheartedly, IME. Is that worth £100? Hmmmm. I can't remember the last time I was daft enough to think so.

Of course, nobody has mentioned that all the best lambs are born by CS, potentially giving you a damned good stock ram for the future.

If you can't make £100 out of a cull ewe and two store Lambs..?
If you shoot it you end up with at best two cade Lambs and a disposal bill, I know which one I would rather have.

 

[bovine]

My grandad had one he couldn't get so called the vet she fiddled with it a bit than decided it needed a Caesarian I came back from the pub and found two vets a dead lamb and ewe! Apparently they cut her uterus so she had to be put down if I was home I bet I would have got it out! Feck knows what the bills gonna be!

That is the worst case scenario!

I remember one week where I had a ewe brought in torn every single day of the week

 

[exmoor dave]

Thanks for all the opinions.

Apologies to start a thread and scarper.
Been at a discussion group meeting talking sheep nutrition, prolapse and mastitis....For more than a few hours!

Just to clarify, we don't just shoot ewes because of a difficult lambing, if it's a mis-presentation then I consider my self to be very competent in sorting that.

But occasionally there are problems like genuine ringwomb,
Or a problem we see abit of, where the ewe kind of prolapses, a day or two before lambing, but not a cricket ball type prolapse, more the ewe just flops abit of vag flap out, then when she lambs she doesn't open up.

It's always good to review what you are doing, we've always considered ceasers unviable with low cull values and low lamb values but lambs at generally £60 upwards and culls £50-90, it's got to be considered.
Esp only being 10mins from the practice.

Maybe I'm just going soft since turning 30
Or dating a vet is wearing off on me

 

[JD-Kid]

Just to clarify, we don't just shoot ewes because of a difficult lambing, if it's a mis-presentation then I consider my self to be very competent in sorting that.

most people don't give it a try and there are a lot of shepards out there that can pull 99.9 % of lambs over the years seen a few that were realy boarder line to get out with out loseing the ewe as well
but there is the odd one mainly rotten lambs i tend to keep well away from them after catching something over lambing one year leading to being in bed for 3 weeks on pills and 4-5 weeks off work
our vets about an hour away and if not there next vet is over 2 hours away

 

[Bury the Trash]

most people don't give it a try and there are a lot of shepards out there that can pull 99.9 % of lambs over the years seen a few that were realy boarder line to get out with out loseing the ewe as well
but there is the odd one mainly rotten lambs i tend to keep well away from them after catching something over lambing one year leading to being in bed for 3 weeks on pills and 4-5 weeks off work
our vets about an hour away and if not there next vet is over 2 hours away

I like to think (to myself anyway) that i can lamb anything any vet can and of course many times took off dead stuff/bits etc never use gloves though - did you really catch something that bad ?

 

[JD-Kid]

I like to think (to myself anyway) that i can lamb anything any vet can and of course many times took off dead stuff/bits etc never use gloves though - did you really catch something that bad ?

yea don't know what it was on a heap of anti bio's for 3 weeks and was coughing up crap not unlike the smell of rotten lambs but the smell was also a taste yep that gross
lucky i have shepards hands skinney hands and small wrists it was just due to loveing the outdoors i become a shepard instead of a gynaecologist
been very weary of dead lambs since them

 

[Gatehouse Farm]

did you really catch something that bad ?

Had this happen a fair few years ago at lambing, ended up in hospital on IV drugs for a infection. Was told by doctor had I of left it another day I would of been too late

 

[roscoe erf]

A ceaser on a cow isn't really economically viable at around £350-£400 and all the risk involved but the cow would be worth say £800-£1200...but £100 Caesar on a £100 ewe and all the risk involved really isn't worth it imo

Glad I don't use your vet

 

[roscoe erf]

Cow ceaser not that much surely. Think our is £150/£200 plus meds maybe bit more.

Or yours

 

[yellowbelly]

Or dating a vet is wearing off on me

I would hope your C-sections should be quite a bit cheaper now then

 

[neilo]

If you can't make £100 out of a cull ewe and two store Lambs..?
If you shoot it you end up with at best two cade Lambs and a disposal bill, I know which one I would rather have.

If you could guarantee a live ewe to sell as a cull AND two lambs, every time, then maybe the calculations would be different. As it is, the ones where the ewe is lost or the lambs don't make it, carry the same cost.
Using the DIY method outlined above, I wouldn't reckon to lose a lamb if it was alive when I started. By your calculations, that's 2 lambs at £60 a piece anyway. The cull ewe has to cover the cost of the CS, if it's successful ......

Personally, I don't get why everyone seems to calculate the worth on the basis of 2 lambs sold. I haven't managed the art of getting them born finished and worth £60+. You could argue that they are worth a fiver when they are born, the same as a cade? I would suggest they are worth the margin you can make on rearing a lamb, which is a long way short of £60 unfortunately.

My vet's surgery is about 100m from my nearest field, they have several very competent sheep vets and they charge a lot less than £100. I'd still not be in a hurry to take a sheep down for a CS, although I have let their very small handed young vet lamb a couple of ewe lambs for me. I did take a ewe down for a potential CS last year, a triplet with massive lambs in her. They managed top get them out the back door, but the result was 3 dead lambs and a ewe that I spent hours & lots of AB's/Metacam nursing for 3 weeks until she died. Won't happen again, the problem ram has gone.

 

[JD-Kid]

I would hope your C-sections should be quite a bit cheaper now then

might get a cheep Castration if he plays his cards wrong ....ummmm next cake yer get dave might be wedding cake

 

[Gulli]

If you could guarantee a live ewe to sell as a cull AND two lambs, every time, then maybe the calculations would be different. As it is, the ones where the ewe is lost or the lambs don't make it, carry the same cost.
Using the DIY method outlined above, I wouldn't reckon to lose a lamb if it was alive when I started. By your calculations, that's 2 lambs at £60 a piece anyway. The cull ewe has to cover the cost of the CS, if it's successful ......

Personally, I don't get why everyone seems to calculate the worth on the basis of 2 lambs sold. I haven't managed the art of getting them born finished and worth £60+. You could argue that they are worth a fiver when they are born, the same as a cade? I would suggest they are worth the margin you can make on rearing a lamb, which is a long way short of £60 unfortunately.

My vet's surgery is about 100m from my nearest field, they have several very competent sheep vets and they charge a lot less than £100. I'd still not be in a hurry to take a sheep down for a CS, although I have let their very small handed young vet lamb a couple of ewe lambs for me. I did take a ewe down for a potential CS last year, a triplet with massive lambs in her. They managed top get them out the back door, but the result was 3 dead lambs and a ewe that I spent hours & lots of AB's/Metacam nursing for 3 weeks until she died. Won't happen again, the problem ram has gone.

I would fancy my chances at 95% survival. Different story if the lambs are already dead.
Shooting the ewe means cade lambs which I rarely manage to make any money out of. Better off killing the whole lot.
I would say the cost is worth it even across my small flock it's not much per lamb and I would be confident to make it back from a ewe and lamb.

Plus I would have to go and buy a gun to shoot the bloody thing.