[Keepers]

I and most of the other farmers around here aim for zero mismothering which seems to happen when the first lambing is when they're fully grown and mature.  One year my neighbour's Badger Face tup got in with his ewe lambs.  When we compared notes we found those ewe lambs (on almost identical ground and management) were 10% smaller at maturity and produced two to three crops less lambs than ours.

That is very interesting, what breeds where the ewe lambs?
did the notes record from when both sets of ewe lambs turned one year old (at lambing or not in the case of the dry ones) up until they left the flock as culls/or died?

I would not want to run in lamb hoggs on identical management to dry hoggs as effectively they are in lamb ewes and should be treated as such, I would never expect in lamb ewe lambs to do better or as good as dry ones if they were treated exactly the same
So if your comparison was run on the fact the two groups were run identically, then I am not surprised the ones which lambed were 10% smaller
My dry hoggs get poorer grazing throughout the winter, with only a small bit of dry hay if it snows

My in lamb ones get the slightly better grazing alongside the in lamb ewes, also they will get haylage a week or so pre lambing with the in lamb ewes, so as they are in lamb they need to be treated the same as lambing down ewes, and not the same as the empty dry hoggs would be treated

I and others in my area also aim for zero mis mothering, if any ewe mis-mothered whether she be a ewe lamb or not she is culled out of the flock, so I wonder if by doing this, we have produced a ewe lamb that is a better mother hence why we find our ewe lambs lambed down as ewe lambs make better mothers as shearlings, perhaps it is due to the selection when lambing as a ewe lamb

[Me]

What does everyone here mean by mis-mothering, sheep terminology being as localised as it is better check. I call a ewe stealing a lamb, a ewe losing her lamb to a lamb thief +/- rejecting it mis-mothering. 

[Keepers]

What does everyone here mean by mis-mothering, sheep terminology being as localised as it is better check. I call a ewe stealing a lamb, a ewe losing her lamb to a lamb thief +/- rejecting it mis-mothering.

Mis mothering = rejecting lamb, not licking the lamb after birth, rejecting one lamb of twins, liking lamb but not feeding lamb, lambing and then sodding off, losing a lamb to a lamb thief but then not taking it back etc

And then I suppose the resulting lamb from all of the above offenders is called a mis-mothered lamb

I have not had a single maternal bred ewe lamb mis mother her lambs as of yet, however this year I had a few of my charollais cross ewe lambs mis mother,
I bought them all as young ewe lambs for £50, they grew very big and broad so put them to the ram, three of them mis-mothered the lambs, they went off to the market 2 weeks later, I thought they would go as culls but the market sold them all as fat hoggets for £85 and the lambs sold as fat in june/july after being given to adult ewes to rear, cant really complain about that 

[Porterlauren]

My thoughts on lambing ewe lambs -

If done properly it doesn't effect their growth.

Less chance of having a fat shearling that can't get in lamb.

Make better mothers than shearlings lambing for the first time.

More likely to have a single and so be on their second lambing when they have to deal with twins, rather than first!

It's another lamb and the ewe isn't eating grass for almost 2 years without doing anything useful!

Exposes poor maternal instinct.

If using the right tup, no more lambing issues than any other ewe.

The ewe freaking out is related to being a first time lamber and NOT due to age (they are sheep not people!).

If you have to pull one be very calm and stick the lamb by her face for a bit before you walk away. Hold her till she licks it.

Watch they don't get too fat before lambing if they are having a single.

Don't believe all of the experts on lambing ewe lambs who don't lamb ewe lambs (if that makes sense!).

[Old Shep]

I can't see the point in arguing whether to tup ewe lambs or not without naming the breed you are talking about!  We wouldn't be too concerned if the tup got to some Mule ewe lambs, but if a texel tup got to a texel ewe lamb we would not look forward to the lambing! Also it depends where you are in the country, how high up you are and how much grass available, and whether you lamb indoors or out.

[crofterswife]

Old Shep agree completely we could never tup ewe lambs.

[Porterlauren]

I think any maternal breed should be able to do it, if they are grown on well enough. You're right, the tup is key (and the breeding of the ewe lamb obviously, in terms of how 'well' it's bred for the task in hand).

With regard to geographical location, temp etc. I don't understand how a shearling lambing for the first time, is automatically meant to make a better mother than a ewe lamb doing it?

The only consideration I guess which could be effected by location etc, would be growing the ewe lamb on whilst her feeding a lamb if you had really poor ground. . . . but then the ewe lamb probably wouldn't make tupping weight in time anyway.

[Old Shep]

If a ewe lamb is in lamb she is still growing herself and her lambs so needs really good nutrition, whereas a shearing is mostly grown so only has to "grow" her lambs?

[Me]

Grass availability I can understand as a factor, all farms are different/differently managed, height shouldn't stop you nor should lambing out, I have tups sold to people lambing out and lambing very high for ewe lambs