Question: I all ready know how to lamb sheep and calf cows, but why is it so so bad if a calf, lamb or foal comes out upside down? Also why are calves, lambs and foals so delicate when there born?

Arthur Dyer answered on 18 Nov 2014:

Hi there Orla,

Good questions!

The main issue with breech delivery (the proper term for upside-down delivery) is that the umbilical cord comes out first and will get clamped because of contractions this means that, because the sac surrounding the baby has gone it can get no oxygen whatsoever and this can cause real damage to the young animal.

Also, it’s much harder to get the head quickly out because that’s often the widest point so this means the young animal goes even longer without oxygen!

As for why the animals are so delicate this is actually an evolutionary trait that means the animal has to be around it’s mother for longer until it is strong enough to go it alone… this means it gets a lot of milk from mum which is good for it’s immune system and it learns a lot of skills… mammals are one of the few animals that actually do this (it’s the same for humans) birds and insects etc rarely have such delicate infants.