But then I’m harsh and cull hard, no passengers
Yes, and I've seen you say this many times in the past, and winced.
But then we lost our rented grazing two years ago and that forced us into some
really tough decisions. Basically the 20% of ewes which had caused us any issue at all went to the butcher (I wouldn't sell on a known problem)...... and lo and behold, 80% of our problems disappeared at the same time.
Pareto was right, you know!
Yes, if we have another ewe to twin on to, we'll try it. We did try last year, but weren't successful and ended up bottle feeding the rejected one.
My approach to animals is that they probably do know what they are on about, so by culling her you are destroying a possibly valuable trait in your animals.
OK, so let's assume she was right both years. Two possibilities - 1) the lamb was defective in some way..... nope. Both rejected lambs went on to do just fine thank you. 2) She didn't have enough milk for two - I'm afraid in a Zwartbles, yes, that is a hanging offence - sorry.
Is it so important that every ewe has twins, or is it more important that every lamb born is raised to good health by its mother?
Don't misunderstand me - if she had a single and accepted it, that would be fine. But that's two years running that she's given birth to two but only wanted one of them.
She has one last opportunity this year. If there is anything I can do to help her succeed, then I'll give it a go of course.However, I'm afraid you have to work hard to stay on our team, and leaving us with pet lambs to rear and no excuses is not acceptable. I have rookies waiting in the wings, and if they show more potential, then I'm sorry, it's burgers for you, and I make no apology for that.