The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Penninehillbilly on May 03, 2019, 02:43:20 pm
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Hi
My ewe lambed a couple of days ago, no problems, but little (white face) & large (b&w face) and wondering if they have different dads, she was put in neighbours field with a few tups,
Anyway, main Q, i think she is swaley x, poss a hebridean type?, 7 this year., wondering how long they can go on for? TIA
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For me, it depends on the ewe's condition and if she has lost any teeth. Some of our Hebrideans have gone on lambing to 15 or 16, others have been retired at 12. If there are other factors against her, then retire her, if she is a good ewe, then keep her til her teeth start to get loose.
With crosses, you can't know their genetic makeup, and often the lambs can be totally different.
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I have some aged 10 and still lambing while others are retired much earlier. I get the impression that 4 or 5 is the commercial answer but I can't work out why. I retire based on teeth, toes and teats and if they can't put weight on in time for tupping.
I've read that a Big and little lamb in the same litter indicates that 3 were conceived but one was absourbed early enough for the placenta of one of the remainders to grow into the gap; big placenta = big lamb.
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The hill sheep around here get sold off at 5 or 6, but they go to farms with better grass and carry on until they're 10+.
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7yrs old is just middle aged even in a commercial situation . Yes can be 2 different fathers
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Hill and upland farms may sell 1-, 2-, 3- and 4- crop ewes (so up to 6 years old) as a product of the farm. After that, they take more looking after on the hill, but could go on for another 3-5 crops on easier ground. In the north of England these are called draft ewes. We bought an occasional batch if we were short of replacements, or to bring in new proven blood.
Ex-BH didn’t like to sell his ewes as draft, never being comfortable that they would settle in a new farm after their very extensive life on the uplands along Hadrian’s Wall. So he’d keep them as long as their teeth and udders were sound, up to a max of usually 6 or occasionally 7 or 8 crops. At that sort of age (8-10) they’d be culled anyway, as his long experience had taught him that they would start to have problems if he kept them on beyond that. Plus, as a commercial farmer with commercial meat types, they’d still fetch a reasonable price if culled while still fit. I think a hill type bred pure can probably keep working quite a bit longer - I knew of a 17-year old Herdwick had just had her 14th lamb on the hill, one every year since she was 3 - but producing two Texel thugs each year on the hill is a big ask and the ewe needs to be fit to carry, produce and rear them.
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As others have said, it depends on how well the ewe holds her weight over the year and how many teeth she has left. I let them carry on if they've lost a couple of teeth, but when they only have a couple of teeth left its not fair to expect them to eat enough to raise lambs.
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Here's the scanning levels for my flock last year ---shows that production levels are pretty good until you get to 7 years old. However the incidence of mastitis etc rises after 5 years old
YOB %
2011 160
2012 186
2013 183
2014 206
2015 194
2016 192
2017 170