The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: trish.farm on March 04, 2015, 09:23:12 am
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Does the tup you use make a difference to ram/ewe lamb %?? I have always had a 50:50 mix of ewe and ram lambs there about. So far had 14 lambs, 13 of them rams. Is it just because this year I need to keep some ewe lambs back???? :innocent:
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We've always had pretty much 50:50 until last year when we had 14 ewes and 7 tups.
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Last year I got 14 tups and 10 ewe lambs from 12 Mule ewes.
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I don't think the ram makes a difference (although many do). 2014 I had 4 ewe lambs and 10 ram lambs from 7 ewes. The previous year (with the same ram used as a ram lamb), I had 10 ewe lambs and 9 ram lambs from 10 ewes. I am also hoping for some more ewe lambs this year...
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last year out of a group of 32 lambs I think I had 5 or 6 ewe lambs, I was hoping for ewe lambs aswel
This year as long as I can get some pedigree charmoise ewe lambs (so far I have had two ewe lambs and one ram lamb) then the rest can all be rams for all I care as they are all going to market
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They say that the older the tup (or bull) gets, the more male offspring he sires.
We did measure one year on the moorland farm, and there was a very slight correlation, but not statistically significant on the numbers we had.
Personally I wonder whether it's more that if you have a favourite tup or bull, you don't keep his daughters the first year or two, so that you can keep him longer. Then when you are ready to keep some of his daughters on, he seems to throw nothing but males! :roflanim:
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Aren't we all talking about sods law ??? I have usually had 50:50 but as with everyone else ,as soon as you want ewe lambs you get the boys !!! :innocent:
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I had a ram lamb that threw 80%+ males. Didn't use him again :)
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I cant complain as they are all cracking lambs, (rather too big as I have had to help pull quite a few out!) all up and running very quickly!! Just wanted to keep 5 or so ewe lambs as I have a new tup arriving in June. Yep, sods law!!
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I cant complain as they are all cracking lambs, (rather too big as I have had to help pull quite a few out!) all up and running very quickly!! Just wanted to keep 5 or so ewe lambs as I have a new tup arriving in June. Yep, sods law!!
Definitely change the tup as you are having to pull quiet a few, a cracking lamb to me is one that runs out when the ewe sneezes :innocent:
then the next tup maybe will have more ewe lambs :thumbsup:
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Always averaged 50:50 but rarely keep a tup for more than two years because of his daughters entering the breeding flock. Have one female bloodline that rarely throws anything but twin ewe lambs, though.
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Last year I had 6 ewe and 2 ram lambs from the 4 shetland ewes, which was great as I'm just starting with them and building up numbers.
A friend commented that up in the hills around Elan they had more ram lambs last year than usual. She put it down to the weather at tupping time.
I've heard it's related to the stage of the cycle they're caught. Old farmers tales?
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I'm sure it's down to sod's law. We have fingers crossed for just boys this year, so are almost guaranteed girls ::)
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I cant complain as they are all cracking lambs, (rather too big as I have had to help pull quite a few out!) all up and running very quickly!! Just wanted to keep 5 or so ewe lambs as I have a new tup arriving in June. Yep, sods law!!
Definitely change the tup as you are having to pull quiet a few, a cracking lamb to me is one that runs out when the ewe sneezes :innocent:
then the next tup maybe will have more ewe lambs :thumbsup:
I had to borrow a Hampshire Tup last year as I lost my Romney in Aug and didn't have time to source a new Romney tup. Only ever had to help a few all the years I have used a Romney tup, had to pull half these lambs out. None of the ewes are first timers either. Lambs are great, up and feeding and dancing around quicker than ever, just huge!! Back to a Romney this year when my new boy arrives, that was why I wanted to keep a few Hampshire X ewe lambs, will be keeping only one at this rate!!
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I cant complain as they are all cracking lambs, (rather too big as I have had to help pull quite a few out!) all up and running very quickly!! Just wanted to keep 5 or so ewe lambs as I have a new tup arriving in June. Yep, sods law!!
Definitely change the tup as you are having to pull quiet a few, a cracking lamb to me is one that runs out when the ewe sneezes :innocent:
then the next tup maybe will have more ewe lambs :thumbsup:
I had to borrow a Hampshire Tup last year as I lost my Romney in Aug and didn't have time to source a new Romney tup. Only ever had to help a few all the years I have used a Romney tup, had to pull half these lambs out. None of the ewes are first timers either. Lambs are great, up and feeding and dancing around quicker than ever, just huge!! Back to a Romney this year when my new boy arrives, that was why I wanted to keep a few Hampshire X ewe lambs, will be keeping only one at this rate!!
Gosh half is a really bad amount!!!
I had to pull most of my hampshire x cross lambs last year,
I am interested in romneys at the moment and trying to do some research into them, purely for the reason that I am thinking about going MV but that means I have to find a maternal breed that is MV so I can close the flock
There are many that are heavily recorded for many many traits which appeals to me :thinking:
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Love my Romneys, only have 2 pure Romney ewes, have never even seen them lambing, never had any problems with the ewes. Romney tups are easy to deal with, not too huge, very friendly. Putting the Romney on all my other ewes who are a mixture of big, meaty girls, some welsh girls, and some Suffolk X, produces super lambs, easy lambing, fit to go at around 6 to 7 months, and to top it all great skins to tan as they have the Romney fleece. Good friend of mine in cornwall who is a "proper" sheep farmer with over 800 Dorset ewes, uses Romney tups. He wont use anything else, apart from Dorsets to provide replacements.
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Had about 50:50 last year but would really like more males as so many people want butchered lamb and I hate sending ewe lambs to the abbatoir.
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to make matters worse, just had a phonecall from my horse vet, she bought 3 ewe lambs off me last year, was so pleased with them she wants another 6 this year!!! pa ha ha!! only got 1 so far and need at least 4 myself!! gutted. :(
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I must have been very lucky last year as I was wanting to build up my flock and I got 6 ewe lambs and 1 ram lamb - which does support SITN's theory as I used a ram lamb.
I lamb late (april) so if the same happens this year it could be the time of year (but then again, as i used a ram lamb tub again, it could still be the Tups youth too).
m
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in humans there is good evidence for the following theories:
- higher sperm temperatures produce more female offspring.
- the closer to ovulation that intercourse occurs the more likely it is that a male offspring will result.
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in humans there is good evidence for the following theories:
- higher sperm temperatures produce more female offspring.
- the closer to ovulation that intercourse occurs the more likely it is that a male offspring will result.
there is also a theory in humans that the size of the male's penis has a lot to do with it, something to do with length, and the speed male and female sperm swim and how long they live for. My OH insists it true as we have a son, and his best mate has 4 daughters!! He did comment when I told him about my flood of rams lambs that the tup I used must have been well hung!!! :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
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I must have been very lucky last year as I was wanting to build up my flock and I got 6 ewe lambs and 1 ram lamb - which does support SITN's theory as I used a ram lamb.
Despite my having reported the theory, I should mention that last year I used a home-bred tup lamb on my fleece girls, only got one ewe lamb out the lot! :D
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for my pedigrees i used an Ai last year an ended up all tups and did the same this year with a different Ai sire an got the exact same...every single one is a tup lamb bar a ewe i bought in lamb
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I assume they don't do gender-specific sperm for sheep? (They do for cattle; dairy farmers may use it to reduce the number of dairy bull calves born.)
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How on earth do they achieve that then Sally? ???
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How on earth do they achieve that then Sally? ???
Just by using sexed semen, the semen is sorted before hand
http://www.cogentuk.com/sexed-semen/ (http://www.cogentuk.com/sexed-semen/)
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as far as i no there not doing that with sheep yet, i came from a dairy farm an everything was Ai ed by sexed semen....will just to keep my fingers crossed an hope next year is better....on a good note i have a lot of pedigree ram lambs to sell in august
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as far as i no there not doing that with sheep yet, i came from a dairy farm an everything was Ai ed by sexed semen....will just to keep my fingers crossed an hope next year is better....on a good note i have a lot of pedigree ram lambs to sell in august
At least then you may be able to buy more females :thumbsup:
I know someone who uses AI and they have an equal amount of ewe and ram lambs
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for my pedigrees i used an Ai last year an ended up all tups and did the same this year with a different Ai sire an got the exact same...every single one is a tup lamb bar a ewe i bought in lamb
I'm glad I am not the only one!!! You have the benefit of selling pedigree rams though! Mine are definitely not pedigree!!! Spoke to the owner of the tup I borrowed, (very politely mind you, as he didn't charge me) and he had nearly all ram lambs in his Jan lambing. The tups next lot of lambs is due end of April so will be interested to see what that produces!!
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I got 6 ewe and 1 tup lambs out of a ram lamb last year which was great as I was looking to expand a little. This year I would prefer to have a few more tups for meat (I also can't stand the idea of sending ewes) so it will be interesting to see what happens this year (same tup this year). Guessing purely on the fact that the average should be 50:50 that will have more tups this year but given I want them this year bet they'll all be ewes!