We lost a heavily pregnant ewe this week and no matter what way you look at it, you’d have to conclude that our inexperience played a role in her death.

She was lame on housing so we kept her separate from the main flock, as is generally advisable. However, this is our first year housing the ewes and pens are scarce so she was pushed in with a few that are having triplets and receiving extra feed. Not ideal, but better than having her shoved around in with the rest of them or having her lameness spread.

They were all being fed hay until we ran out of it. We bought some hay last summer and were assured: “There’s plenty more if you want it.”

Change to diet

Given the rain last autumn and the early housing of cattle, it’s understandable that this turned out not to be the case when we wanted it. An alternative plan was needed.

We did some homework and got advice from several genuine experts with experience of the system, and are going very well on an all-concentrate diet (plus silage as roughage) for the ewes. But when the changeover from hay to nuts/silage took place, the now-dead ewe slipped between the cracks.

The vet was called and checked all vital signs. She concluded there was nothing clinically wrong and gave her calcium and penicillin just to be sure. That was Monday morning and we kept her going with glucose drinks, a mixture of baking soda and water, and ivy. She dithered for a few days and then died in a matter of minutes on Friday afternoon.

As we drove her to the local disposal yard, it all became apparent. Hindsight is 20/20 vision, obviously enough.

Vulnerable to bullying

She was vulnerable in the first instance from her recent lameness. She was relatively old (bought in 2015, she was probably six or seven at time of death) and carrying twin lambs. When I checked the breeding diary, she was one of the first tipped by the ram and therefore was around four weeks from lambing.

One of the triplet-carrying ewes she was sharing the pen with is also a bit of a bully and could have been preventing her from getting her fill of hay already.

Then we changed her diet. And a week later we loaded her into the car trailer, feet first, to bring her to the disposal yard. Likely cause of death: plain old twin-lamb disease.

Is there a lesson in this sad tale? There certainly are practical lessons for us, and the more philosophical amongst us might conclude that random things will always happen, but experience, infrastructure, and planning will reduce the impact when stuff goes wrong.

Kieran Sullivan and his brother farm part-time in Co. Waterford. You can follow him on Twitter: @kieran_sullivan

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