The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: mowhaugh on March 31, 2014, 08:39:28 pm
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One of my Cheviot ewes lambed earlier, I saw her have the first one (that bit is important!), then left her for a wee while whilst I checked the other sheds, came back and she had had the second one (she was scanned for twins). They were not quite what I expected, they were very small, and instead of being all white, they had little silver grey noses, knees and toes. Very cute, a perfect little pair, lively, loved by mum who has bags of milk etc. etc. So this was all OK, assumed she mustn't have held to the Cheviot tup the first time and been got by the Kerry Hill second time over. I penned them up, went back just before to check on them, and she had had two more - this time looking more like what I expected, proper Cheviots, and rather large. If I hadn't seen her have the first one, I would have just assumed I had somehow made a mistake this morning, but I definitely didn't, she definitely has had all four! I am now very confused about the parentage, as there is no way the wee ones are three weeks younger than the big ones, although they are small they are not premature, and so it couldn't be the Kerry Hill. Can't quite decide what to do yet, have left her with all four just now, she is very pleased with them all (a miracle she didn't squash the first pair having the second pair in the pen!) but will have to do something!
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Wow! That's a lot of lambs in one go!
Have no idea about the parentage but hopefully won't be have any similar shocks here as I don't think a Castlemilk would cope with 4!
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can't help with parentage or anything else
can beg for pictures please, they sound very cute!!!
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I know cats can give birth to litters with kittens sired by different toms. Not sure if the same goes for sheep? Wow, four lambs! Ouchy!
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Blimey O'Reilly. Sounds a proper handful :o Keep us posted and get some pics up ASAP.
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Wow :sheep: :sheep: :sheep: :sheep:
I hope they are all feeding well and the teenies aren't losing out to the big ones.
Yes, pics would be lovely :hugsheep:
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Congratulations - what a fab ewe to have all 4 on her own and coming the right way! Hope they all thrive and Mum gets some extra titbits for being such a clever girl :love:
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I know cats can give birth to litters with kittens sired by different toms. Not sure if the same goes for sheep? Wow, four lambs! Ouchy!
Yes, they can, but I have never had two sets of twins! When I was small, my Granda ran swale ewes, tupping half with the swale and half with the the BFL, and every year there was at least one ewe with one swale lamb and one mule lamb. I just can't work out HOW the father of the first pair tupped her, I really didn't think she was anywhere near anything other than the tup she was meant to be with.
The wee silver noses now have a new mum, a ewe had a dead pair of lambs last night and we have given the silver noses to her. She is very pleased with them, I went to pick them out of the pen to take a photo and she headbutted me in the nose. Ow. But I will not be defeated, there will be photos later!
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Pleased to hear you have managed to foster off the two silver noses and given the ewe that lost her own lambs some to love and take care of :love: Looking forward to seeing some pics.
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That's a good outcome, for the silver-noses and the ewe with dead lambs :thumbsup: Sorry about your nose, but glad she likes them that much ;D
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Well done for pairing up the first twins :thumbsup: . I don't think our noses are made to compete with a ewe's head :hug: :roflanim:
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I really didn't think she was anywhere near anything other than the tup she was meant to be with.
Like the Badger Face ewe of mine that was supposed to be running with a BF ram then had what was clearly a Southdown X lamb - don't ask how the ram got to the ewe, ask how the ewe got to the ram!
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Little silver noses (they are much sweeter than they look here, I love them):
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee282/xantia135/DSCF5705.jpg) (http://s232.photobucket.com/user/xantia135/media/DSCF5705.jpg.html)
Original mum, with her second two:
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee282/xantia135/DSCF5735.jpg) (http://s232.photobucket.com/user/xantia135/media/DSCF5735.jpg.html)
With their new mum:
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee282/xantia135/DSCF5697.jpg) (http://s232.photobucket.com/user/xantia135/media/DSCF5697.jpg.html)
A couple of random pics:
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee282/xantia135/DSCF5770.jpg) (http://s232.photobucket.com/user/xantia135/media/DSCF5770.jpg.html)
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee282/xantia135/DSCF5766.jpg) (http://s232.photobucket.com/user/xantia135/media/DSCF5766.jpg.html)
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So sweet! Love the little silver noses!
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How adorable they are! Maybe she got mated by both when you did the changeover! Good girl having four so well! Great set up you have :)
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Those little silver noses are so cute :love:
I've also got serious barn-envy here!
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Gorgeous :love: Your sheep are a real credit to you - they all look fab. :thumbsup:
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Thanks, everyone. We are delighted with the new shed, we were saving and saving and thought we might get one in about 10 years time, then we applied for a Scottish Government grant for young farmers, and were awarded 60% of the cost, so were able to get it done for this year. We have the hill sheep who are having twins in one half, and the oldest two ages of all the sheep in the other half, as those groups are getting cake as well as the lick buckets.