Uterine prolapse - Sheep

[Nithsdale]

The other question is the heritage of the ewes... if a ewe prolapsed lasts year she will almost certainly prolapse this year and probably much quicker and much worse... Anything that gets a harness on does not see another ram...

Disagree.

I used to cull all ewes which prolapse and survive. 4 years ago I had 5% the flock prolapse the ewes had harnesses used and I lost track of offenders, the majority would in the end be retained and will still be on farm today.

A change of diet (concentrates) the following year and I have had almost no prolapses since and have not culled because of it alone.

Last October I was trimming the tail on a cast ewe (broken mouth) and noticed wounds, which would be from me stitching in a prolapse. Something I have not done in several years. To add - I had 2 prolapses in 2018 and both ewes went on to have rotten lambs - 1 died, the other reared no lambs and went cast in May.

They don't all re-offend

 

[farmerm]

Disagree.

I used to cull all ewes which prolapse and survive. 4 years ago I had 5% the flock prolapse the ewes had harnesses used and I lost track of offenders, the majority would in the end be retained and will still be on farm today.

A change of diet (concentrates) the following year and I have had almost no prolapses since and have not culled because of it alone.

Last October I was trimming the tail on a cast ewe (broken mouth) and noticed wounds, which would be from me stitching in a prolapse. Something I have not done in several years. To add - I had 2 prolapses in 2018 and both ewes went on to have rotten lambs - 1 died, the other reared no lambs and went cast in May.

They don't all re-offend

Interesting, there is a theme here of cereal/hay diet being a significant contributor. What is the current feeding regime if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Nithsdale]

Interesting, there is a theme here of cereal/hay diet being a significant contributor. What is the current feeding regime if you don't mind me asking?

I lamb outside, ewes run on grass.

I used to feed Beet Pulp & NB Maize Grains mixed @ 18% protein. (We collect it in loads of 8tonne - 3t Maize Grains to 5t Beet Pulp). We now add rolled barley to the mix and lowered the Beet Pulp. Its fed @ 16% protein (3t rolled barley, 3t Maize Grains, 2t Beet Pulp). I also now incorporate Eweliq16 molasses/liquid feed at a rate of around 7-8%.
Ewes fed once a day on the ground, from a snacker.


Fairly obvious the Beet Pulp level was the issue.

 

[Global ovine]

I lamb outside, ewes run on grass.

I used to feed Beet Pulp & NB Maize Grains mixed @ 18% protein. (We collect it in loads of 8tonne - 3t Maize Grains to 5t Beet Pulp). We now add rolled barley to the mix and lowered the Beet Pulp. Its fed @ 16% protein (3t rolled barley, 3t Maize Grains, 2t Beet Pulp). I also now incorporate Eweliq16 molasses/liquid feed at a rate of around 7-8%.
Ewes fed once a day on the ground, from a snacker.


Fairly obvious the Beet Pulp level was the issue.

Yeah. Think who can grow a decent beet crop when K levels are low? Beet has high cellulose requiring higher K requirements than most forage crops. Protein conc is not the issue, but high K and low Mg is. The same problem would occur if bananas were fed.
The biggest mistake sheep farmers make is to apply K ferts when pasture is shut up for conservation. All this K is wrapped up for sheep to consume in the last trimester of pregnancy.

 

[Lemon curd]

Prolapsed vagina can lead to some ewes pushing more due to the swelling obstruction in their reproductive tract causing that reflex and desire leading to prolapsed uterus. If this continues the intestines can follow if a rupture occurs, then very fast death.
The precursor of all this is cation/anion imbalance. Where a prolapse has occurred, administer magnesium supplements such as causmag to the diet by dusting (onto silage or grass breaks) to counter the high potassium levels in the feed. This restores muscle action/control.
Next year DON'T put on ferts containing K before harvesting silage/hay until the crop is harvested. High levels of N in spring can also induce high K uptakes when soil temps are low. In these conditions grasses take up K but not much Mg. Then the farmer harvests and stores this feed to give it to the ewes in their most vulnerable stage of the year. Ewes need Mg to mobilise Ca from their bones for the rapidly growing foetuses and colostrum in late pregnancy. Calcium supplements aren't as effective as Mg supplements. Increased levels of Sulphur in the pasture (saved or fresh) can also greatly restore ion balances. Most grain has high K levels.

All other things like slope, how full their ever filling bladder is, shape of ewe etc, etc are just triggers to this problem, they are not the underlying cause.

Very interesting, I have heard various suggestions over the years about lack of calcium being a precursor so your comment makes sence. Do you feed supplements to your in lamb ewes in nz or just grass ?

 

[Global ovine]

Very interesting, I have heard various suggestions over the years about lack of calcium being a precursor so your comment makes sence. Do you feed supplements to your in lamb ewes in nz or just grass ?

Adequate Magnesium in the blood (as there is no storage organ) is necessary for ewes to mobilise Ca from their bones (Ca storage organ with huge reserves), hence add Mg to diets, not Ca.
In NZ across all climate zones, only grass or forage crops are fed in situ with supplements of hay/silage/baleage (conserved pasture) if the terrain permits. Feed buckets etc. are basically unheard of and impractical as the average flock size is over 3500 SSU.
In regions suffering from prolonged drought, grain or grain based nuts may be fed to sheep onto the ground to ewes premating to protect next season's lambing % or get through the winter when autumn saved pasture is insufficient to ration out across the winter.
Mg boosted and/or protein protected sheep nuts are available in the deep south where flocks are generally run more intensively, have higher stocking rates, longer/colder/wetter winter and higher lambing %. However only a small minority of flocks use these, as pasture management (intensive rotational grazing on no more than 4 day breaks) and use of swede and kale crops relegates such feeds as emergency only.
Causmag is often dusted onto new breaks prior to the sheep being moved on, or applied onto the silage etc. which usually is given on the last day of the break to extent the time to prevent the sheep getting ahead of the planned once-over per winter rotation.

 

[Coulddobetter]

I have followed this one for years and heard many different theories. I agree with all the above comments but overidingly I can’t look past the obvious one of increasing feed rates ( nuts/cereals etc) at the same time as the lambs inside are growing rapidly ie. last 3 weeks pre lambing. A quart will not go into a pint pot and the pot (rumen) is getting smaller due to the lambs getting bigger. I also doubt feed is evenly distributed when feeding so we think we are feeding 1 kg but I bet many ewes get 0.5kg and others 1.5kg.
IMHO better to start feeding ewes early at a modest flat rate instead of piling high levels in at the end and causing pressure on the system.

 

[D.S.S18]

have you marked your ewes to see if they are persistent offenders? we often notch an ear, make a note in the book then we can double check.

sometimes its too much wet food - fodder beet, or too much feed at once.

I've found feeding sheep, then letting them walk to grazing during the day encouraging them to walk means they pee etc.

I then put feed in the troughs then go and get them at night - saves getting your legs knocked out!

 

[Nithsdale]

IMHO better to start feeding ewes early at a modest flat rate instead of piling high levels in at the end and causing pressure on the system.

+1

I've always been an advocate of feeding something for a long time rather than throwing a lot at them in a short time.

It makes for easier condition management IMO.

 

[cpsf]

Prolapsed vagina can lead to some ewes pushing more due to the swelling obstruction in their reproductive tract causing that reflex and desire leading to prolapsed uterus. If this continues the intestines can follow if a rupture occurs, then very fast death.
The precursor of all this is cation/anion imbalance. Where a prolapse has occurred, administer magnesium supplements such as causmag to the diet by dusting (onto silage or grass breaks) to counter the high potassium levels in the feed. This restores muscle action/control.
Next year DON'T put on ferts containing K before harvesting silage/hay until the crop is harvested. High levels of N in spring can also induce high K uptakes when soil temps are low. In these conditions grasses take up K but not much Mg. Then the farmer harvests and stores this feed to give it to the ewes in their most vulnerable stage of the year. Ewes need Mg to mobilise Ca from their bones for the rapidly growing foetuses and colostrum in late pregnancy. Calcium supplements aren't as effective as Mg supplements. Increased levels of Sulphur in the pasture (saved or fresh) can also greatly restore ion balances. Most grain has high K levels.

All other things like slope, how full their ever filling bladder is, shape of ewe etc, etc are just triggers to this problem, they are not the underlying cause.

 

[cpsf]

Thanks for this info...very informative!

 

[MissSteak]

A lot can be down to space, and different genetics. Imagine putting all your innards, plus lambs, food, drink, waste into a bag. Some bags are strong and hold it all in, some have become weak with past use (we've all had a super market shopping bag burst), some genetic make up makes for stronger bags.

We can only do so much by way of control factors such as feed, sometimes nature just had to burst as grim as it sounds. Not too different to humans really.

 

[Global ovine]

A lot can be down to space, and different genetics. Imagine putting all your innards, plus lambs, food, drink, waste into a bag. Some bags are strong and hold it all in, some have become weak with past use (we've all had a super market shopping bag burst), some genetic make up makes for stronger bags.

We can only do so much by way of control factors such as feed, sometimes nature just had to burst as grim as it sounds. Not too different to humans really.

But what caused some to burst, what was the difference when comparing to those that handled the load?
One of the pillars of nature is to breed for the continuance of the species.....blowing apart is totally contrary to this.
I think about the introduction of Finn genetics. This breed has litters of lambs, pure Finns having triplets, quads and quins being in the normal range. Metabolic diseases associated with pregnancy are unheard of along with no vaginal and uterine prolapses, yet they should have more stress than other breeds due to their litter size (conceptus weight) and smaller adult body size.
This resilience to such problems exits strongly in half Finns and still largely inherited in quarter Finns (the usual % of Finn blood in most composites including a Finn component). So why don't they die of twin lamb disease, milk fever and prolapse? What enables this breed to counter these problems on the same diets as sheep of other breeds when those breeds fail and burst?
The answer is in their superior genetic ability to mobilise Ca in late pregnancy even in conditions that are severely adverse for this. Why is this so? One can only assume that during the development of this breed, those that could not handle the conceptus' demands either died from metabolic disease or burst, hence exiting the gene pool.
The obvious question therefore is, what are we doing wrong that only breeds such as Finns can handle?
Can we correct this to remove the threat? Why are some flocks a problem on one farm, but when moved to another area are not affected and visa versa?

It all gets back to what we feed them and the adverse chemical changes that can occur at the vulnerable time of late pregnancy. This is not a theory, the importance of cation:anion balance is well known in dairy cow nutrition/management, why not in another ruminant whose productive performance is taken to higher levels than that found in the wild?
Have changes in farm management to alter sheep feeding in late pregnancy made a difference? YES. Hundreds of cases in NZ have turned around this problem. On my own 2800 breeding ewe farm from 7 - 8% incidence of prolapse to 0.06%.
Did it cost much? NO, just lifting soil pH up from 5.7 to 6.2 and avoiding N ferts in early spring and salt licks in late winter, keeping S levels up to optimum and dusting casmag (calmag) onto pasture breaks during spells of dull skies and/or rain during cold weather.

 

[MissSteak]

Genetics, breeding lines with weak back end muscles. More pregnancies weaken the pelvic floor. I don't think it's complicated.

 

[Global ovine]

Genetics, breeding lines with weak back end muscles. More pregnancies weaken the pelvic floor. I don't think it's complicated.

If it was that easy and about back end muscles it would have been sorted by breeders years ago. UK breeders have put more back end muscles into sheep since the EUROP grading grid was instituted than any other country in the world.
Why do some sheep produce high lambing % for many years without any prolapses, whilst flocks of the same genetics have large loses and culling rates of affected ewes?
@MissSteak you need some more critical thinking than your post above.

 

[Paulk]

The prolapse debate goes on, reading forum posts over the years, as a general lambing problem it still seems to causing a lot of bother. I think it has little to do with breed although different breeds are fed differently. IMO it’s feed type and quantity. Firstly type, barley is low calcium[alkaline] and high phosphorus [acid] we know high ca levels in late pregnancy reduce blood ca which weekens muscles at a time when they are under stress already. Quite uncommon to get prolapse on barley fed ewes unless a high ca mineral or protein balancer is added.
Compound feed has back ground ca, limestone and cal mag. In other words high ca low phos. Phone a compound company and ask how much ca is in their dry cow cake” we don’t put any in it causes milk fever” low blood ca then ask,I need some cake for my lambing ewes how much ca do you put in” oh we put lots in” !!!
Now quantity. Go online or buy a book which has the predicted dry matter intakes for ewes for the week of pregnancy and lamb crop. Don’t use the 2.5% of body weight method.
Keep the maximum concentrate part of the diet to no more than50% fresh weight of the predicted intake. This gives the rumen a chance to ferment all of the diet. When the rumen works properly there is less chance of the digestive system getting back logged and increasing pressure. A 75kg triplet ewe only needs slightly more feed, .1 kg more than a twin, so feeding them much more is likely to do more harm than good.

 

[Al R]

@daithi