After a ewe has been bred back and had her second litter, I give her a vacation, which usually moves her to a second breeding cycle. For example, if a ewe lambs in April, is bred again in July (right after weaning), and lambs again in December, I then give her a vacation and don't breed her again until the following July.
That second group of ewes is bred in July, aiming for a December lambing. These girls are on pasture through September and they get extra grain and alfalfa their last two months, which is when I normally put out grain and alfalfa anyway. The December-born lambs are on their mothers' milk until late March, and then I put them on grain and alfalfa until the early spring pasture gets going.
This schedule seems to be working for me, although the December lambing can be a bit tricky weather-wise. I think my prevailing attitude is that if I'm going to be graining the girls anyway, I'd rather give them that 50% extra and get some lambs out of it than let them lounge around all winter with nothing growing in them except their stomach. But the vacation is important in my book. Other shepherds will continually breed back. I do NOT let my ram run with the ewes. I did that the first year or so when I had only one ram. I hated not knowing for sure when the girls were going to lamb. I'm trying to develop separate bloodlines in my flock so I now maintain a bachelor group of rams and their time with the girls is carefully scheduled. I pull them out after 34 days.
Carol
At 03:01 PM 12/9/2004 -0800, you wrote:
See what happens when it rains too much in Orygun? <VBG!>
I'd love to read some discussion on this subject. I know the sheep can be bred out of season, and I can see where that may be a good thing where pastures produce reliably all year, but what is the advantage of accelerated lambing in most of North America? The only reason I would do it at the moment is because I want to get my flock numbers up fairly quickly.
This is how I've worked things out for the time being...and I am being strongly influenced by the fact that I have been feeding lactating ewes, and am about to wean their lambs, on $12 a bale hay.
If I were to breed for March lambs, I know I would have to supply high quality hay, and possibly grain, for the 5-6 weeks preceeding lambing. The ewes will hit their peak lactation about 3 weeks after lambing. An ewe with triplets may have a 150% increase in nutritional requirements over maintenance. By this time the pasture is going to be taking off. Their requirements will taper off and the lambs will really be hitting their stride when the grass is growing strongly. From what I understand, the lambs' growth rate and early need for high nutrition will taper off about the time the grass is slowing down. If they continue to grow well with good management, I would hope to be able to butcher or sell in November, about the time the grass runs out, leaving me with dry ewes to feed for most of the winter. I realise this may not coincide with peak market prices, but I don't expect to be selling lambs on the commodities market. I think I can go through a complete, forage based cycle, in 12 months, and give the ewes some time off to rebuild their bodies.
Seems to be a reasonable plan instead of feeding lambs and lactating ewes on $12 a bale hay. With skilled management (I'm a long ways from there), it may be possible to graze the dry ewes virtually all winter without additional hay.
Now, if a person were to select strongly for multiple births, it almost seems to me that the average person would be better off to schedule lambing in synch with the grass cycle, as opposed to having lambs whenever the ewes were ready to breed back, or to let a ram catch them at random. The other thing I'm skeptical of is leaving the ram with the ewes all year and letting him eat the same grub the lactating ewes are getting (with their potentially 150% higher nutritional needs! Wow, that's some gourmet ram chow!)
I also read about reliable twinners occasionally failing to conceive or going a cycle and producing only one lamb - which sure wouldn't pay for her upkeep for a year, especially if she's getting fed expensive hay in winter. If she were producing lambs that go to market in 4 months at 120 lbs, that might be a different story.
Not trying to stir up a controversy, I would just like to hear people talk!
Barb
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