[shearling]

Hello, I have 6 Portland ewes. The ram arrived and started work on 5 Nov with a view to new hooves to arrive 1 April (ish). We were not sure if they were in lamb or just still rather fat! I am now convinced that most of them are in lamb. If we set the ram asside by fencing him off in the field next door will he be ok about it? or should we leave him with a couple of the possibly more later expectant ewes. Any advice would be most gratefully recieved. They are all happily eating in the field together at the moment.

[Madcow]

we only have 5 ewes and we usually leave the ram with them throughout pregnancy and when lambs are born. Mr Dobbs, the ram is very laid back about it all and when the lambs are old enough they use him as a climbing frame !  Perhaps when a couple of ewes have lambed I move him and them off to another field to get on the better grass. Then when its weaning time I move him and the ram lambs off to another field till its the lambs time to go, which by this time he can go back in with the ewes and the process starts all over again 
Other people may have other routines but this suits our small flock just fine.

[shearling]

Thanks Madcow. My only worry is that, firstly I am new to all of this, and secondly so is he! He seems kind enough around his harem, although a bit pushy when it comes to making sure he gets more than his share of nuts at the moment.

[Freddiesfarm]

One ram on his own would be a nightmare - he would try to break out all the time, they are afterall flock animals.  Leave him with the girlies or if you have the misfortune for one of them to lose its lamb or not be in lamb then you can move him out with a friend.

Breeds like portlands tend to only get in lamb at the right times of the year so he is unlikely to cause any unexpected pregnancies.

[shearling]

Thank you all for the advice. I will leave him with them unless there is a problem then.

[Madcow]

we found that as our was also pushy at feed times if we tied him up and gave him a small amount to eat then the ewes could get what they need and he wont get too fat ! he's not too bright and comes straight to the bucket each time so it works fine and we dont waste food fatten him 

[jaykay]

We put our tup the other side of a stock fence. He gets company that way but can't actually get at them - important as we put the gimmer hoggs back with the ewes once he's out.

[TheCaptain]

Hercules my Portland ram has stayed with his girls (9 ewes) since we got them last May/June.  He was only a baby then, born Dec 09, and didn't reach sexual maturity until the bank holiday weekend of August when he covered 7 of the girls in 7 days (I think my other two are barren).  He is still in with all of them plus his offspring who are coming up for two months old.  Once it comes to weaning he'll be in the next paddock with the lambs, then the ewe lambs will go back in with their mums.  They'll be seperated off again once he goes back in with the mums for next season.  Depending on what we do with his offspring from this time we'll either run three flocks (him plus mums, ewe lambs and ram lambs), two flocks (him plus ram lambs, ewe lambs back in with the mums after mating) or one flock (if we sell all of his offspring).     

He is, however, hilarious and takes his father role extremely seriously - especially when playing 'King of the Muck-heap', which he insists on winning and gets very embarrassed when he gets caught!!!

 

Shearling, where abouts are you?  May be after a ram swap next year if we keep his girls.