The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: novicesmallholder on May 26, 2014, 09:47:36 pm
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Hi, just seperated the babies from their mothers at 12 week's. OH and I have a different view on the ewe lambs.
I think we should seperate the boys into another paddock (for the obvious reasons) and the girls for a week to break the bond with mum and then put the girls back in with the ewe flock. I think this gives the mums a clean break and they can start to recoup now. OH says leave the girls in and mum will stop feeding them when they want to. What do you do?
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we left our ewes in last year for the first time and will do it again this year. made it easier to manage fields. not sure a weeks separation is enough time to break the bond- others will know i'm sure
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Unless your sheep ovulate all year round then it is unlikely that the ram lambs will do any damage for a month or two ---so I wouldn't worry about them being mixed with the ewe lambs for a few weeks
Give the ewes a few weeks before you put the ewe lambs back so they get a chance to dry up a bit ---
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We leave them to wean themselves naturally.
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Lambs and (mature) rams removed at weaning, then I run them as a group until about September when the ewe lambs go back in with the ewes. During that time the rams & lambs get the best grass, and the ewes follow after. I find its a handy way to flush the ram in the run up to tupping, as well as to feed up the lambs. It also means that the lambs have an adult sheep for company which makes them feel a little more secure :).
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We wean at 16 weeks - leave the lambs where they are, move the ewes as far away as possible. They'll all bleat like mad for about a day then the ewes will begin to dry up and appreciate the rest! We split the ewe and ram lambs a month later and put a "Nanny" ewe in with the ewe lambs, generally a 3 or 4 crop ewe that's very tame and won't be tupped again. She'll become head of the new "flock" and the lambs will follow her, making them much easier to manage. Most of our ram lambs go to the freezer or are sold as stores. We keep around 6 of the best as potential breeding stock and make a final selection when we see how they do through the winter, aiming to keep 2 or 3 as hire rams. These are wormed and quarantined when they return from hire and only the best one is kept through a second winter.
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We tend to wean in August,both sexes. Barring last year when we didn't tup really but did have seven happy accidents lol..... Normally worm crovect wean in August, separating ram lambs from ewe lambs and on to new pasture away from mans, I find that the ram lambs are the most dramatic at weaning, the ewe lambs just get on with it. I love the ram lambs to work with, they tend to be a bit more forward and brave when we start to get them bucket trained.
We sell the rams as stores, don't like selling ewes lambs in with the ram lambs, something doesn't really sit right with me about that, so we will Run them on. But big cull for the adults this year mind, at least 60 to go, plus 60 odd ram lambs. Baz has promised me a turning crate :)
at this point the ewes get let down. They go on roughest grazing we got to dry out. After that they get moved, moved moved, get them flushing.
IMHO it is essential you check your ewes bags, (unless you already have) if they are milky when you weaned get em checked for mastitis and get them on rough grazing straight away.
Just to add we started lambing in Feb x