Effect of day gestation on inductions of lambing with flumethasone.

Three-hundred and sixty-nine ewes were examined for the effect of day of flumethasone injection on induction of parturition. Ewes were treated with either 2 mg flumethasone (FLU) or physiological saline (control) on days 138 through 144 of gestation as determined by date of marking by rams. Average time to lambing post-treatment was 86.7 +/- 8.0 hr for FLU-injected ewes and 155.9 +/- 7.9 hr for control ewes (P less than 0.1). Sixty-four percent of the FLU-injected ewes lambed within 72 hr after treatment, compared to 17% of the control ewes (P less than .01). The average interval to lambing for the FLU-treated ewes responding within 72 hr was 49.5 +/- 2.1 hours. FLU treatment on days 140 through 144 of gestation resulted in a shorter (P less than .05) interval from treatment to birth and more (P less than .01) ewes lambing within 72 hr after treatment than did treatment on days 138 and 139.