The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: janeh on October 02, 2017, 10:14:46 pm
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Hello,
We have a 5 ewe lambs and 3 ewes so far. We are going to get a tup soon.
How do people manage a tup? Do you keep them separate from the ewes all the time or could he stay with the ewes after tupping? Also if the ewe lambs were with the tup I presume there would be a risk of them becoming pregnant too early? We do have a few little fields so hopefully can manage things, but we want to keep everyone (ie all sheep) happy. Sorry if this is a silly question!
Thanks,
Jane
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Far from being a silly question, it is in fact about welfare. You cannot leave a tup in a field on his own for 11 months of the year, or any time at all in fact, as sheep are flock animals and need companions. The usual solution is to have a wether lamb as companion to the tup. Some people do keep their tup in with the ewes after tupping time, but we have found it safer to remove him at the end of his 4-6 weeks with the ewes. This has the added benefit of giving you a finite lambing period, but also a tup can get a bit pushy with his ewes which isn't good when they are in lamb. Leaving a tup with his daughters is not desirable as they would happily inbreed.
We prefer to keep our tup separate and leave the ewe lambs with their dams over the winter and through lambing. We find this seems to help the lambs to understand more and be prepared for their own first lambing the following year. It also encourages family groups to develop, which is part of a sheep's natural behaviour. In fact we have several tups and wethers so we never have a miserable tup - they love hanging out with their chums in their batchelor quarters for most of the year.
It is best also to have the tup field not sharing a fence with the ewes as tups will jump. If your paddock arrangement allows, keep the tups a whole field away, or at least diagonally opposite the ewes so they can't jump.
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Does the wether go in with the ewes also at the same time as the ram - otherwise he'll be left on his own? Does this cause any issues or do they all tend to get along? & although it may seem a silly question I can assure you I am being serious.
Although we gave no ram at present it is something I'll need to address maybe next year
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Also bear in mind how secure your fencing is in terms of keeping your tup from visiting neighbours. That could be a costly problem if your tup covers their females, especially pedigree ones.
Our tup spent some of the summer with the ewes and lambs but he is quiet with them. Some aren't. At weaning he went in with the tup lambs and wethers. Last year I had all ewe lambs and over the winter he lived in a pen next to our old goat and they loved each other.
Are you actually ready for and need a tup of your own. Could you borrow one? Could you use a tup lamb and get rid after tupping? Just other options. Some tups can be a pain.
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I agree hiring is a good option for just three ewes, or a well grown ram lamb would do the job and you could eat or sell him on afterwards. Depends to some extent on breed and whether you're going the registered pedigree route.
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What breed did you get in the end?
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Does the wether go in with the ewes also at the same time as the ram - otherwise he'll be left on his own? Does this cause any issues or do they all tend to get along? & although it may seem a silly question I can assure you I am being serious.
I've been letting the wether tag along with the ram when he goes in with the ewes and it has not caused any problems to the ewes, the ram or himself.
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a well grown ram lamb would do the job and you could eat or sell him on afterwards.
We sold two zwartbles tup lambs last year for breeding, and they managed to get their ewes pregnant no problem at 7 months old. So, that's a nice cheap and easy way to do it if you can find one.
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We are only smallholders and don't have much land but do have our own ram. To start with he has a best buddy (castrated boy) who is with him all of the time, at the end of october the ram goes in with the girlies (along with his buddy) and they all stay together until lambing at the end of march. We sponge our ewes to compact lambing so once served successfully he won't bother them again, the only thing I do is when we start feeding the ewes a bit 4-6 weeks pre lambing I put him and his buddy in a pen while I feed the girls then let them back out.
After lambing the boys have two paddocks we rotate (or half a field with electric fencing) until october again. Once our lambs from that year are weaned I stick the boy lambs in with them and they have extra company until they go in october when the boys go back in with the adults anyway :)
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Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. Lots of food for thought! If we do get a tup then getting whethers for friends sounds like a good plan.
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Just to add...
My boy Chad (Shetland) came as a tup lamb and stayed with the flock throughout. He was never any bother, not even at feeds. (They're primitive types, so feeding an all-stock mix, safe for him, was fine.). I didn't at that point have any ewe lambs I didn't want tupped, so they just all stayed together right through until tupping time the following year, when I removed the ewe lambs.
My experience of leaving ewe hoggs with the mothers at lambing time is it's the ewe hoggs who are dangerous! Giddy and silly, and can cause accidents. Now I prefer to let them back together once the lambs are a few days old. The ewe hoggs still get used to lambs and will know what they are when they have their own, but aren't a danger to the newborns or themselves.
When I moved here, we wanted to delay lambing until April, so Chad was kept separate with the wethers until he was needed. Despite these boys being flockmates, and including an older wether, not just hoggs, Chad couldn't settle. He was two fields away from the girls, couldn't see them, but he paced constantly. Every time he saw me, he ran up to the fence looking meaningfully at me.
After tupping (we had left him with the girls for quite a long time) we put him back with the wethers. He was going to have to go now as that was his third crop, but we wanted to put some condition back on him and get past any possibility of ram taint. However, he still couldn't settle. He wasn't going to put any condition on pacing all the time, and he wasn't happy, so after a couple of weeks we decided to send him straight off.
In case it was tainted, we had it all minced, and labelled it 'ram'. If it was tainted, we'd use it for the dogs. However, it was wonderful, and we ate it all ourselves.
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We did get a ram in the end. He is a Hebridean ram and we now have 6 ewes (and 5 ewe lambs which will go to the tup next year). He lives with two Shetland whethers and seems quite happy. Will see how things go. Thanks for all the input.
Jane