The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: graham-j on September 01, 2014, 07:25:26 pm
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Hi,last year I bought a Texal Ram lamb 6-8 months old and put him in with 8 of my ewes.Almost straight away he and all the ews went down with orth,once recovered he had lost condition.
In the end he didn't preform,didn't even show any interest.
I still have him what are the chances of him preforming this year,any advice very welcome,I have kept sheep for several years but this was my first attempt with breeding very disappointing.
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ORF shouldn't have stopped him serving the ewes it might have made him infertile ? this year he should be fertile but since he showed no interest last year it might happen again,you could put him the next field to the ewes 2weeks before you need him to work and he should be constantly patrolling the fence and sniffing if keen and just lying around if no intrest , really difficult to know but ive never had a ram or lamb not work
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I think it would be a big gamble to use him on all your ewes because you might end up with no lambs again. You could buy or borrow another ram to use with seven of your ewes and put your texel with just one of the ewes. If that one ewe doesnt have lambs you know to get rid of him. If she does have lambs but you are still happier with the new ram at least you can sell the Texel as a breading ram.
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If he was completely infertile last autumn (as in even after several attempts not a single ewe lambed) than he won't have magically regained his fertility. Too big a risk to even try. Cull and buy new one, preferably a proven one and give him a few weeks at least to settle in.
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The vet can do a test to see if he is infertile. He may have had an infection last year.
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Can you put a raddle harness on him and have a rented or borrowed ram standing by in case he doesn't work? I agree the best course of action would be to cull and buy a new one. If your ewes go another year without lambing they could have fertility problems in the future too.