The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: fgaskell on June 21, 2021, 04:56:00 pm
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Hi all,
Can you keep rams with ewes the entire year?
Sorry beginner asking!🙄
Thanks
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No
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The short answer is yes. However, the risk is that you will have a very strung out lambing, which brings it's own problems such as having no idea when the first will lamb, trying to feed ewes that have lambs with ones that are still to lamb, needing foster mums/lambs with no others due at the same time and so on.
We have a ewe to lamb even though everyone else finished weeks ago. OK it isn't a big problem because she wont be lambing again but it has thrown her out for clipping, will have to watch closely for flies when she does lamb, if she was going back to the tup it would be a problem.
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i guess you could keep the tup raddled the entire year? LOL ;)
is it a problem if oyu only have a couple of sheep? (im hoping to get a couple)
thanks
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A breeding ewe, unless of a breed like Dorset Down, is likely to have lambs only every 12 months.
However, any ewe lambs may be impregnated by the tup before they are old enough and fit enough to be getting pregnant.
Also, any ewe which loses her lambs (aborts) may then take to the tup at an odd time of year, and you may not then know when to be watching her closely and be in a position to help if she needs it.
The usual solutions for a very small flock are
- Do not keep a tup at all. Borrow or hire a tup or a tup lamb for 3-5 weeks each year.
- Buy a tup lamb each year, use him and then eat him.
- Have your own tup, but run him with a local farmer's tups (for a fee, of course) when not needed for work
- Send your ewes to a local farm for tupping
- Don't breed. Buy store lambs to fatten each year.
Note that in the first 3 cases, you will still need to keep your ewe lambs separate when the tup is working. So if you don't have 2 fields, you have a problem. (Even if you think you will always have all your lambs off to the abattoir before 7 months old, you will get a year when one was ill and wasn't fit at 7 months, or some other curve ball.)
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Plus, not all tups behave well around lambs. Many do, but some can injure lambs or even the ewes carrying lambs. And you may need to feed your in-lamb ewes or ewes who are rearing triplets, and you wouldn't want the tup eating that much cake. (Plus it would have to be a cake suitable for tups. Ewe cake is not suitable for tups and can cause urinary calculi.)
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thanks that has really helped!