[Nelson International]

Last year one of my ewes gave birth (to a seemingly fully grown single) at 138 days from when she was raddled. Obviously it's not massively early, but in thinking about this year I was wondering whether the length of gestation periods is at all consistent? Can I exited her to be short again this year, it is there not likely to be any correlation?

[shep53]

Depends on breed of ewe and her genes and the same for the ram .   My hill ewes with a hill ram always start at circa 140 days  ,put a Texel ram on them and it goes to 146 days . Tex x ewes with  Beltex or Highlander ram  will do 143days   , to a Texel ram 147 days  when I used  a Suffolk it  was 148 days , First timers often carry for less time than an adult and a ewe can lamb every year at almost the same time