I take it a lamb is a baby sheep and the ewe in the story is its mother. It take it the ewe went in search of her baby lamb and found it dead [half-eaten].
rather, i think, as Dr bill said, the ewe had gone down to a back pasture (as many animals, she sought out a private place) and either while she was birthing, or very soon afterwards, they were attacked, and newborn lamb was eaten..
it might have interupted the birth, (did she pass the placenta? did the coyote eat that too with the lamb?) hard to tell, but the shock of the attack -while giving birth, or so soon following it could have been more than she could bear.
ewe's that have stillborn lamb 'act, appear' sad- it partly hormomal-- even human mothers 'feel better' right after birth if they nurse.. a ewe that doesn't have a lamb doesn't have a lamb to suckle--and unless one is found for the ewe to suckle, the ewe doesn't fare well. (they don't usually die)
(and they are easily fooled by taking the skin of the dead newborn lamb, and putting the skin over a lamb that is motherless (sometimes a ewe will reject a lamb, or sometimes a ewe will birth twins, and only 'recognize' one..and sometimes lamb die birthing, too.)
ewes are sensitive mothers..
