Always learning as a shepherd.

This mature ewe just baffled me. She always lambs without difficulty. She was in good condition. Yet when I got her to her feet I saw the mucous plug, but hardly any sign of labor. Sensing a problem, I was baffled when the head and one foot was correctly positioned. I went ahead and delivered the lamb, in the video she is licking it off. Since the lamb was correctly positioned I decided to wait for her to deliver the second one. An hour later, she was still standing, not pawing the ground or showing labor. It was then I saw the placenta was discolored and the legs were not there, and only the butt was close to the touch. After cupping each hind leg and pulled, I sensed that this lamb was already dead. The full term lamb turned out to be partly reabsorbed, while the living lamb had her own blood supply. In hindsight I realized her womb was starting to close back up or never completely dilated. I was so grateful the Lord allowed me to see this ewe at that moment or all of them could have died. She was not separated or showing labor at all. If the mucous wasn’t showing I would have completely missed this lambing problem.