Tupping time
Posted: Tuesday 1 December, 2009
I always think of this as the start of the sheep year, since what happens now influences all else. Last year, our three ewes were tupped for the first time - we had two single lambs and one set of twins, although one was born dead. All three ewes were fine, which was my main priority.
The ewes are now at the tup again. A flock of three ewes doesn't justify keeping a tup and borrowing one isn't that easy, so they have gone back to their breeder and her tup, which just happens to be the same one as last year. He must have been a bit of a hit last year, because all three were covered within 10 days, two within 48 hours. We're just waiting to see if they come back into season. If they have held to first service, that will be great as I'll get a nice compact lambing. Last year, the first lamb was born on 30th March and the last on 18th May - which meant a lot of wasted broken nights.
I will get them scanned again this year, but they have to be at least 30 days pregnant before the scanner can detect the foetus. It would be good to have all twins this year - the ewes were all good milky mums last year, so should be able to cope with two. And the more there are, the less attached I'm likely to get to them. We can't afford any more Dickies!
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