Why do lambs mispresent?

[Mcnulty24]

I run romneys and romney x ewes, no feed, turnips then grass in the lambing paddocks. I am having a run of lambs with a leg back, I am halfway through and have sorted out more stuck lambs than the whole of last years lambing. It is also not helped by the lambs being big, I used some new lleyn x tups and they are throwing beasts. Presented normally, no problem but anything with a leg back is stuck.

Any thoughts on what causes a lamb to mispresent or just one of those things.

 

[sticky]

Size is my guess, not enough room in the womb for 2 big lambs. Had the same here this year.
Or is it just to p1ss us off.

 

[Guleesh]

I run romneys and romney x ewes, no feed, turnips then grass in the lambing paddocks. I am having a run of lambs with a leg back, I am halfway through and have sorted out more stuck lambs than the whole of last years lambing. It is also not helped by the lambs being big, I used some new lleyn x tups and they are throwing beasts. Presented normally, no problem but anything with a leg back is stuck.

Any thoughts on what causes a lamb to mispresent or just one of those things.

Lamb size obviously, but perhaps also lack of movement, from what I've seen there seems to be a lot higher % of malpresentations in housed sheep or ones kept in tiny flat fields compared to sheep that are roaming the hills, up and down slopes, jumping across ditches and crossing rivers.

 

[Woolless]

I run romneys and romney x ewes, no feed, turnips then grass in the lambing paddocks. I am having a run of lambs with a leg back, I am halfway through and have sorted out more stuck lambs than the whole of last years lambing. It is also not helped by the lambs being big, I used some new lleyn x tups and they are throwing beasts. Presented normally, no problem but anything with a leg back is stuck.

Any thoughts on what causes a lamb to mispresent or just one of those things.

Funnily enough, I am in the same boat. A lot more hassle than last year. Anything dead or compromised won't line up properly. Big lambs won't help. I've had a few tangled triplets, they are housed, the rest are out.

 

[JHC]

Agreed. Since switching to outdoor lambing several years ago seem to have far fewer malpresentations.

 

[glensman]

Funnily enough, I am in the same boat. A lot more hassle than last year. Anything dead or compromised won't line up properly. Big lambs won't help. I've had a few tangled triplets, they are housed, the rest are out.

It must be catching, I've had more lambs coming with one or more leg back than ever before. Sheep are very fit and lambs are full of vigour.

 

[Nithsdale]

Ah come on.

When you were wee, did you never pretend to be Superman flying through the air with 1 arm forward at every opportunity you got???...

 

[Nithsdale]

Mild/open winter ewesin very good fettle having bigger lambs causing more issues.

I wouldn't necessarily blame the tups - Lleyn is typically easy lambing.

 

[Jerry]

Mild/open winter ewesin very good fettle having bigger lambs causing more issues.

I wouldn't necessarily blame the tups - Lleyn is typically easy lambing.

OP mentions a Lleyn cross, wonder what’s it crossed with and bet there some texel there.

 

[Nithsdale]

OP mentions a Lleyn cross, wonder what’s it crossed with and bet there some texel there.

The Tex part would need to be beyond extreme to ruin the Lleyns easy lambing

 

[z.man]

Was thinking similar today .....how come ewe hoggs seldom malpresent lambs in comparison to ewes ????

 

[Jerry]

The Tex part would need to be beyond extreme to ruin the Lleyns easy lambing

Possibly. I’ve used a chartex ram this year on some Lleyn. Not looked at the data properly yet but am convinced he caused more issues than two Lleyn rams and a Charollaise ram put together.

May just be him though of course.

 

[Jonp]

My Texel tup got beaten up on the second day of being in with the ewes and was retired to the shed to recover. The lleyn and Charolaise (guilty thug) tups have made lambing this year so much easier even though the lambs were a good size.
Ultimate easy Lambers....Welsh ewes with Welsh tup!

 

[Kentishfarmer]

The Tex part would need to be beyond extreme to ruin the Lleyns easy lambing

Wouldn't be so quick to say all lleyns are easy lambing, I've seen some lleyn ram breeders that seem to be aiming to get something the size of a Shetland pony! Perfectly possible to breed easy lambing texels too IMO depends on the line/farm the ram has come from more than the "breed" I think

 

[Kentishfarmer]

On a related note, not so much lambing difficulties this year but had a load more prolapses than usual. Could be a similar cause if all the ewes are in better condition and the lambs are bigger?

 

[CopperBeech]

Big lambs - legs get pushed backwards underneath lamb when ewe pushes.

Ideal lamb size apparently 2-4kg?

 

[Mcnulty24]

Thanks folks, they will be 1/8 texel. I dont think that would be the issue. The lack of space in the uterus to get the legs in the right place sounds plausible.

I will have a look at the birthweight ebv to see if I have bought one that throws biguns

 

[AftonShepherd]

On a related note, not so much lambing difficulties this year but had a load more prolapses than usual. Could be a similar cause if all the ewes are in better condition and the lambs are bigger?

A good few more prolapses here too, and lost too many of the ewes no matter how quick I get them back in or how clean I try to get everything. Spoons, harnesses or both doesn't seem to matter to survival rate. Quite often get them trying to push rotten lambs out anywhere between 12 and 72 hours which makes me wonder if the prolapse or the dead lambs came first?

Thankfully, none of the reported "pushing guts all out" here though.

 

[Woolless]

Was thinking similar today .....how come ewe hoggs seldom malpresent lambs in comparison to ewes ????

Bigger bellies on ewes, lambs lie lower down so are pushed against the abdominal wall rather than through pelvis?

 

[Jonp]

Think alot of problems caused by overfat ewes. All of my low slung more mature ewes lambed fine.
None of my ewes are fat by any stretch and most lambed easily.