Prolapse causes

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Fat ewes prolapse... but main offenders are thinner ewes here. Twins and triplets.

There's no rhyme or reason, and no common link (unless it's TE level related).

Changing my feed has made a huge difference after the last few years.

We've got 9 different rations going and all have had 1-3 prolapse. Big strong TexX ewes seem to be the most prone.
Some welsh which arnt massive and expecting twins we've had 5 prolapse, these are the tightest pelvis'd animals on the farm. Their tails are all 8-9" long.

Bought in some brokers with full length tails and 2 of them have prolapsed in the last 3 days.
We stitch with "suture prolapse tape". Works well and the water bags can get through it and most lamb without a problem. Culled once weaned.
 

Downton_shep

Member
Location
Leintwardine
Pretty much down to luck! We have some ewes in on hay, some on maize and sheep out on grass. Thin ones and fat ones. Had some in all lots (less in fittest ewes on grass)
We don't cull for it first offence and rarely find they do it again.
Find the red harness's better than the black nettex ones.
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
We've got 9 different rations going and all have had 1-3 prolapse. Big strong TexX ewes seem to be the most prone.
Some welsh which arnt massive and expecting twins we've had 5 prolapse, these are the tightest pelvis'd animals on the farm. Their tails are all 8-9" long.

Bought in some brokers with full length tails and 2 of them have prolapsed in the last 3 days.
We stitch with "suture prolapse tape". Works well and the water bags can get through it and most lamb without a problem. Culled once weaned.

Iv halved the amount of beet pulp in the ration, replaced with molasses rolled barley. Huge difference.

The TexX ewes have been perfect - no prolapses. They are very fit and on good (but old PP) grass and only 0.4lb/head of feed.

The commercials are on 1.2lb/head mixture old PP and young reseed. 230 in total, 3 prolapses and 1 swelling of uterus wall - but no actual prolapse (pure Texel).

Hill ewes are on 1.7lb/head, were on the hill but brought inbye early (were getting thin) onto old PP. 250 ewes and only 1 prolapse.
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
Good quality grass... if your fortunate to have it.
Well I wouldn't expect to have any if I lambed early march, especially in Scotland. ;)

(That's intended as a good natured ribbing rather than having a go:) )

I lamb early April. But still need a contingency plan for years when spring growth is slow. Here that mostly consists of timing of suckler turnout.
 

Yale

Member
Livestock Farmer
So what is an average rate of prolapse?

A few years ago we had a batch of yearling which over 10% prolapsed.

I am aiming for less than 1% this year,currently on about 0.65% with 10 days to go for the main lot and the yearlings and old ewes half way through.

Used to average around 2.5-3%.
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
What sort of ewes are you running, I am switching across from mules to Llyens, and hopefully bring in a NZ texel, intend feeding grass, maybe kale or forage rape to the ewes.
I have tried lleyn, highlander, and my own variation of highlander with criss crossing NZ Texel and Romney. Some bought in and some bred up from mules. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, with (as is often said) as much variation within the breeds as between them. At scanning I like the Highlander best, at lambing the lleyn or Romney, at sale time the NZ Texel.
 

Downton_shep

Member
Location
Leintwardine
So what is an average rate of prolapse?

A few years ago we had a batch of yearling which over 10% prolapsed.

I am aiming for less than 1% this year,currently on about 0.65% with 10 days to go for the main lot and the yearlings and old ewes half way through.

Used to average around 2.5-3%.
We've not had as many as the last two or three years 0.8-0.9% with 8 days to go.
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
So what is an average rate of prolapse?

A few years ago we had a batch of yearling which over 10% prolapsed.

I am aiming for less than 1% this year,currently on about 0.65% with 10 days to go for the main lot and the yearlings and old ewes half way through.

Used to average around 2.5-3%.


Last year i was over 10% in the commercials :banghead: f**king frustrating...

Less that 1% across entire (lambing) flock this year.
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Well I wouldn't expect to have any if I lambed early march, especially in Scotland. ;)

(That's intended as a good natured ribbing rather than having a go:) )

I lamb early April. But still need a contingency plan for years when spring growth is slow. Here that mostly consists of timing of suckler turnout.


You'd be surprised, what can grow in the wild North ;)
 
Forget breed differences (except Finns) as all UK breeds are affected by the same underlying problem with the initiation of the prolapse being due to multiple factors such as uterine load, steepness of hills, body condition score, (maybe an infection), level of feeding in the 2nd trimester, etc.

The underlying problem is Potassium mainly. Ewes should be conditioned to losing some weight during the second trimester so during the third trimester they can mobilise Calcium from their bones to grow the foetuses and colostrum over the last month particularly. Calcium cannot be mobilised if the intake of Magnesium is low. Potasium boosted silage crops offer a big risk to ewes if fed in late pregnancy as Potasium replaces Magnesium in the chemistry of the rumen. Therefore use K fertilisers only after the crop has been harvested. Salt blocks (Na) also competes with Mg.
There is no Magnesium storage organ in the mammalian body, therefore Magnesium has to be part of the daily diet. But with all-grass feeding, Magnesium is not taken up by plants when soil temperatures are below 5 degrees C. To solve this problem, dusting of new grass breaks (be they 1 day or 4 days) with causemag is the standard practice for both cattle and sheep. If indoor feeding, it is a lot easier to mix it with the daily ration.

Magnesium uptake by plants is severely affected by damp and dull weather. Therefore outside lambing shepherds should be mindful of the risk being greater when such weather hangs around.

Note the underlying cause of both milk fever and prolapse is the same.......too much K and not enough Mg to allow sufficient Ca mobilisation. Hence farmers saying "its a fine line between the two."

Dr. Rex Dolby (retired authority on such chemical interactions with soils/plants/ruminants) has written on this subject in the booklet written for Easyrams. He also mentions the importance of blood pH due to the factors I have mentioned above.

I had severe problems on my previous intensive hill farm with prolific Romneys. The soil type was naturally very high in K. Using Rex's advice we went from 7% prolapse incidence to less than 5 cases in 2000 ewes annually.
I had ram clients who moved farms taking their flocks with them. Some went from nil to high incidence and visa versa, showing it was environmental, not genetic.
 

redcoo235

Member
Livestock Farmer
We are between 2% and 3% most years. As scanning % has gone up so has prolapse. Always cull for it and don't keep daughters but does not seem to make any difference. Thin, just right, fat, small, large, all ages, different breeds and different diets. No pattern to it here, apart from I don't think I have every had a single prolapse.
 
Not being provocative but... surely, the main (but by no means only) cause is genetic propensity, i.e. lack of culling.


I culled all progeny for years from prolapsed ewes and made no difference until I changed my feed management to counter the high K intake.
I agree if you mean lack of culling of repaired prolapsed ewes, as once out, the vagina will more easily come out again in subsequent pregnancies.
 
We are between 2% and 3% most years. As scanning % has gone up so has prolapse. Always cull for it and don't keep daughters but does not seem to make any difference. Thin, just right, fat, small, large, all ages, different breeds and different diets. No pattern to it here, apart from I don't think I have every had a single prolapse.

Pretty much same as you except I had a single prolapse in 2015. And she perforated!

Thanks for your post @Global ovine - very interesting.
 
@Global ovine
Moving all ewes on to recently reseeded lays in about 3 weeks time.
I was wondering would it be useful to take a grass sample and get it analysed for K and Mg


When was this feed grown? When the soil was warming up, or has it been carried over winter? If grown when soil is warm, it should be OK for Mg levels. But if out of crop that had high K inputs (eg. cereals or maize) you may think otherwise.



Pretty much same as you except I had a single prolapse in 2015. And she perforated!

Thanks for your post @Global ovine - very interesting.



No problem. I have written on this subject several times on this forum over the last few years.
 

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