# Sheep died during shearing.



## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

Has anyone ever had a sheep die from being sheared?

I've heard of a few that has, due to the sheep got overly excited. 

It's not common but it happens.

I also have a GF that bought a sheep down the road from her house. And it died from a heart attack from being hauled a few blocks.


----------



## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I have had sheep most of my life and it has never happened to me. I have never had any die from hauling either. I guess if the sheep were overweight, old and flighty, I guess it could happen. But more than anything, if sheep die while being sheared, it is because the sheep got over heated in the first place. > Thanks Marc


----------



## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

I have heard of it happening. I was at a sheep seminar recently and they needed a couple of sheep for a shearing demonstration. Some lady brought her 20 year old registered Islandic (or maybe the shetland was that old...don't remember now) to be sheared. I was so worried that old gal (the sheep....not the lady) was gonna drop dead during shearing.


----------



## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

I haven't had it happen during shearing, but have a couple sheep who will stress more than the others. If they had a weak heart too, I bet it's possible they could die from shearing. If that's the case you wouldn't want them in your breeding program anyway, so in a way they self cull. That is providing they are being handled properly. I don't think it's very common at all. I remember seeing a sheep drop dead just from being brought in from the pasture at another farm. She was way overweight, high headed, and you could just see the stress. Bad thing was she was also leading the other sheep who would follow her lead of running and being stressed. Her offspring would also stress easily. Besides a greater chance of death, it does seem to have a bad effect on the other sheep, which isn't good overall. I don't tend to keep sheep that are crazy, but do give them time to settle in and generally they do. Years ago I had a sheep would would seizure any time she was moved in from the field. I culled her before she died.


----------



## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

Like others ,I have heard of it only. I'll tell you what I think is weird ....I have had ewes die from rolling over on there back and not being able to right them selfs again ...Has anyone else ever seen that ?


----------



## Ross (May 9, 2002)

J.T.M. said:


> Like others ,I have heard of it only. I'll tell you what I think is weird ....I have had ewes die from rolling over on there back and not being able to right them selfs again ...Has anyone else ever seen that ?


 Yes too often over the years! Essential they bloat not being able to belch gas and they suffocate or aspirate into the lungs


----------



## Plowpoint (May 2, 2012)

I have never had a sheep die during shearing, but I did lose one who rolled on her back and died. She was in full fleece however.


----------



## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I went out to the back of the pasture one day to check on a couple of ewes who had parted from the herd, as they do when lambing. One lambed, but was on her back and baaing at me. I wanted a moment, then turned her so she could get on her feet. She had gotten herself into a dent in the ground. I was so glad I'd gone out there.


----------



## Laurie J (Mar 9, 2005)

Just had a ewe die today that was only 4 years old. We discovered her, stiff as a board, on her back on a hill with her legs going uphill. We lost a ram this way a dozen years ago. I don't really understand it. Seems like they'd be able to get themselves up.


----------



## Ross (May 9, 2002)

The term for it is being cast, they can't right themselves. I agree its very odd!


----------



## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

I have seen several sheep die during/after shearing, not my own but when I worked on stations where shearing could last a week. They were mustered (over several thousand acres), penned, drafted, put in the shearing shed, shorn - and dropped dead. A very stressful and traumatic time for them and way out of their normal daily comfort zone - dogs, horses, men, noise, the actual job of shearing. But even then it was the exception rather than the rule.

As a general rule, sheep that become cast are heavily pregnant, have too much fleece and often a combination of both. They will often be found in a slight indentation in the ground as in Maura's case or lieing with all four legs pointing up a hill as in Lauries. There is really nothing odd about it. The weight of wool/pregnancy makes them more awkward than they usually are, they get into the wrong position when going to stand, become cast and their very weight stops them from being able to roll over to right themselves. It is normal farming practice here to shear when the ram goes out or not long after so that by lambing the ewe only has a half fleece which will have been enough to have kept her warm over the winter, to shear twice a year anyway and to lamb on flat ground.

Cheers,
Ronnie


----------



## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

My GF had a ram die from being sheared. Once he started shearing him , he kicked a few times then gasped for breath and died. The shearer is a professional shearer. He shears for the FDA and multiple farms for over 25 years. I personally think it was just too much excitment for the ram. The shearer is my shearer too, never had a problem, but my sheep are used to being sheared and he's very quick.

What do you think?


----------



## Waiting Falcon (Nov 25, 2010)

I have seen sheep die during shearing. It can be the shearers fault for handling too roughly, it can be a problem with the sheep- not wanting to be handled, getting over excited the dying in the shearers hands, it can be from over heating -because of weather or fighting, it can be the owners fault for not preparing the sheep. Sheep should be on dry lot for the minimum of 12 hours before the sheep are sheared. The more they have in the gut the more likely problems will occur.
If you have professional shearers to shear your flock, pick one that cares. A shearer can work fast and smoothly without ever upsetting the animals or can be a whirl wind that the sheep automatically start fighting the first touch.


----------



## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Dying from positional bloat does not require a heavy fleece or being pregnant, just an unfortunate depression in the ground or something that just keeps the animal from righting its self. Odd, because sheep are far more prone to it than other animals. Never lost a goat or cow to it but I'm sure it must happen occasionally some where.


----------



## houndlover (Feb 20, 2009)

I had a ewe that cast herself nearly every day in a perfectly flat pasture. My dog would bark and so I'd know she was cast. I culled her. Any animal that is too dumb to roll itself over is too dumb to add its dna to the gene pool.


----------



## kirsten (Aug 29, 2005)

I had one sheep get cast once, very pregnant, in full wool. She hadn't been cast long- thank God so she was fine when I righted her. Has nothing to do with intelligence. This ewe was cast on the slightest bit of an incline. 

I have only heard of ewes dying post shearing in terribly cold temps and usually old ewes.


----------



## 65284 (Sep 17, 2003)

I've always suspected sheep walk around just looking for an excuse to die.


----------



## lsarah (Jun 4, 2011)

I had a 6 month old lamb get cast last year. He laid down on a slight incline with his feet uphill. I righted him and moved him to another pasture without the incline. Three mornings later we found him dead on flat ground. I suspect he got fluid in his lungs from being cast, which caused his death. Broke my heart - he was a precious little guy, but a little on the weak side. Like others stated, nature has a way of culling itself sometimes.


----------



## Sunmill (Apr 26, 2011)

65284 said:


> I've always suspected sheep walk around just looking for an excuse to die.


Saw this on another sheep board:


Wooly Bleaters

A farmer told me, long ago, he hated sheep. Said I, 
âWhy so?â He said, âAll sheep are wooly bleaters, time consuming turnip eaters, whose one ambition is to try to find a different way to die.â
All my working life Iâve tried to stop this ovine suicide. 
But living isnât in their nature â a sheepâs a kamikaze creature.


----------



## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

We lost a steer that way once. He laid with his head downhill. Aside from dying of bloat because they can't get up, cows often bash their heads into the ground while trying, and that in itself can cause their death. We have had several cows get in this position and we found them and got them up and they lived.


----------

