The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Gunestone on November 29, 2017, 06:30:44 pm

Title: Tupping
Post by: Gunestone on November 29, 2017, 06:30:44 pm
So we have this ram lamb on our ewes and he has been in since the 11th of November. He has not tupped a single ewe, which seems very odd. Either he is not interested at all, or the ewes aren't cycling. Should we wait a bit longer or get another tup for them?
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: harmony on November 29, 2017, 06:45:03 pm
I assume that he is raddled. I would swap tup.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: shep53 on November 29, 2017, 07:00:02 pm
One full cycle , all should have been tupped ,even if not cycling when the ram went in after a week to 10days they should have started , so change the ram
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: bj_cardiff on November 29, 2017, 08:20:05 pm
How old is the Ram lamb and how old are the ewes? Sometime you get a ram that's just not interested.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: Gunestone on November 29, 2017, 08:26:39 pm
Thanks for the replies, I think we'll have to get another ram. The ewes are all experienced except one, two 5 year olds, a 4 year old and a shearling.  The ram was born in May and is small compared to the ewes, but he shows no interest in them at all.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: twizzel on November 29, 2017, 08:28:00 pm
One full cycle , all should have been tupped ,even if not cycling when the ram went in after a week to 10days they should have started , so change the ram
My ewes weren’t tupped this year until day 19-23 this year. Only 1 went before that on day 1! But the rest all came cycling together a little later than normal.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: SallyintNorth on November 30, 2017, 07:18:22 am
Thanks for the replies, I think we'll have to get another ram. The ewes are all experienced except one, two 5 year olds, a 4 year old and a shearling.  The ram was born in May and is small compared to the ewes, but he shows no interest in them at all.

He may be a bit young still.

You didn’t answer is he raddled?  Some tups aren’t very demonstrative and don’t even stick to cycling ewes for hours, so simply not seeing any action doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any tupping ;).
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: Anke on November 30, 2017, 10:14:22 am

If he has got a raddle on it may be chafing... I have found that raddles don't work very well, as the slightest bit of rubbing can put the tup off totally. Have now just used raddle powder (mixed with vegetable oil) and smeared generously on his chest, and that works well.


I would have thought a May-born lamb may be just a bit on the young side for fully grown ewes, he may actually be a bit intimidated by them all... having said that my ewes were very slow to start cycling - tup (adult) went in Nov 5th and no action at all for the first week, and only 3 tupped by the end of two weeks... but he has speeded up now and hopefully all done by the end of this week.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: Gunestone on November 30, 2017, 12:01:04 pm
Yes he is raddled, with the powder not a harness. I was thinking he may be young also, the ewes certainly seem to boss him around a lot.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: shep53 on November 30, 2017, 12:45:30 pm
A may born lamb should still be sexually active , are his testes of a good size ?    in all my 50yrs with  maybe 500 rams of different ages the only ram lambs that were slow to be active were  artificially reared in a male only group so had never encountered females .
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: m3joeEm on December 01, 2017, 01:31:14 pm
The ram must be gay...
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: crobertson on December 01, 2017, 09:02:29 pm
Maybe the ewes are late cycling? We started to worry about our ram as he wasn't doing anything, ewes still hung around but then he mated 7 in one day so I think they were late cycling this year.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: SallyintNorth on December 02, 2017, 08:34:57 am
Have the ewes been coming on to him?  Have they been calling and pacing the fenceline?  If the latter, he’s not ready / infertile.  If the former, it might be he’s had a go, it all went wrong and it’s put him off, or that he’s simply too immature.  If neither, it could be the ewes haven’t started cycling yet.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: Womble on December 02, 2017, 09:41:53 am
it might be he’s had a go, it all went wrong and it’s put him off, or that he’s simply too immature. 

I have a bit of sympathy for that, as it sounds a lot like me as a teenager!
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: Marches Farmer on December 02, 2017, 11:53:13 am
I'd get another tup, sharpish.  You don't want to leave it any later and be lambing in May when the flies are active.  If the ram lamb was born late May he may well be too immature to work yet.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: Sbom on December 02, 2017, 12:51:26 pm
Has there definitely not been another tup near them?   
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: nimbusllama on December 02, 2017, 12:58:38 pm
I agree get another tup, if you have ruled out the following.  Are the sheep coloured in which case you might not see the raddle mark?  You said you used powder, forgive me for stating the obvious, but did you mix it with grease or oil before applying it?  If the sheep are white and the raddle effective then get another tup.  If not then it is possible that he is doing the deed without you realising it.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: Gunestone on December 02, 2017, 05:33:02 pm
Thanks for all the advice. To answer a few questions, yes the raddle was mixed with oil, there is no way another tup could have got at them, they aren't coloured so much that we wouldn't see the raddle (yellow) and two of them are white. 

We have another tup arriving early Tuesday  :relief: Unfortunately lambing will be later than desired, but not much we can do about that now  :(
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: nimbusllama on December 03, 2017, 08:05:18 am
Good luck with the new tup, keep us posted  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: Gunestone on December 03, 2017, 02:38:23 pm
Typical ram!! I have just been out and he has marked one of the ewes  ;D They must have been late cycling after all.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: Penninehillbilly on December 04, 2017, 03:42:50 pm
Typical ram!! I have just been out and he has marked one of the ewes  ;D They must have been late cycling after all.
They are mind readers LOL, he must have been worried whether he had a future  :)
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: harmony on December 04, 2017, 06:01:19 pm
Typical ram!! I have just been out and he has marked one of the ewes  ;D They must have been late cycling after all.


Or the first ram didn't do his job and this one is.
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: shep53 on December 04, 2017, 06:23:17 pm
Ewes running with a ram not cycling for 22days is  very very far from the norm , maybe he was trying just not getting it right ,  rams should be watched to see if they  are working correctly
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: SallyintNorth on December 04, 2017, 09:13:57 pm
Typical ram!! I have just been out and he has marked one of the ewes  ;D They must have been late cycling after all.

Or the first ram didn't do his job and this one is.

I’m reading it that the questionable tup lamb has now marked a ewe. The new tup isn’t there yet, he’s due tomorrow I think
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: Gunestone on December 05, 2017, 08:39:34 am
Right, the original tup has decided he would rather do his job than move to the freezer...
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: harmony on December 05, 2017, 09:28:49 am
Ah! You should have mentioned the word freezer to him earlier!!!  :innocent:
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: firther on December 07, 2017, 07:18:02 am
mine were a couple of weeks starting this year before they were served, and I know neighbours have found same thing happening. Don't know if it were because autumn were milder than normal or not. didn't stop raining though lol
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: daveh on December 07, 2017, 05:28:59 pm
I keep two breeds, Cotswolds and Castlemilk Moorits. I have found that putting a Cotswold ram in with the ewes results in immediate action. The ram goes in on 20th October.

The CMM ram goes in on 1st November as we have found that this date is the earliest that CMM ewes are interested in the ram. Some ewes continue to be uninterested until we have had the first frost of the year. Don't know why but I do have some difficulties in understanding the nuances of female behaviour.

Regards, Dave
Title: Re: Tupping
Post by: SallyintNorth on December 07, 2017, 09:49:51 pm
My primitives are certainly less likely to come on early than the crossbreds and the long wool.  When I was farming commercial sheep we had to start keeping the tups separate once we'd got Charollais blood in the mix...