Author Topic: Weaning questions (Read 4355 times)

Rosemary · « **on:** June 05, 2011, 09:38:12 pm »

Our lambs were born 25th March to 7th April. I was planning to wean them at the end of July, so the youngest would be just over 16 weeks. Is this OK or too early?

Second question, re ewe lambs. First of all, do I need to wean them then or can I leave them with their mammys until their mammys go to the tup, when I would be splitting the group anyway?

Third and last question, if I DO have to wean the ewe lambs at the end of July or whenever, how long do I have to keep them away from the mammys to be weaned? I like to keep all the females together if I can - just makes it easier to manage.

Thanks.

egglady · « **Reply #1 on:** June 05, 2011, 10:12:35 pm »

good questions Rosemary! I'll be looking forward to the answers too

Fleecewife · « **Reply #2 on:** June 05, 2011, 11:06:46 pm »

4 months is fine

The reason to wean at all is to give the dams a chance to rebuild their strength before they are in-lamb again. I usually leave my ewe lambs a bit longer with their mams than the tups and wethers, which come out when the youngest are 4 months (if we have had a protracted lambing then the older entire tups would come out once they reach 4 months, then we would take out the younger ones a few weeks later). Once the ewe lambs leave they are kept separately until they are bred in their second winter - just a wire fence away so nothing traumatic. I do this as it's easier to get winter feeding right for the different groups, plus we can't treat the whole flock in one go (creeping decrepitude) so we prefer to have them in smaller groups. Different management methods suit different shepherds. If the ewe hoggs are with their dams through the winter then they will be getting any extra feeding meant for their dams - expensive andf unneccessary. However, there is something to be said for the ewe hoggs to be present at lambing, as it seems to help when they later lamb themselves - they are not shocked by the appearance of lambs and seem to know what to do.

They will probably already be weaned by their mams anyway, but probably just a couple of weeks separated would do it.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #3 on:** June 06, 2011, 10:30:02 am »

As ever, I agree with everything Fleecewife has said.

My previous farming partner reckoned two days would break the bond and stop the ewes producing milk and I certainly never saw any lambs back under the ewes if they were put together again after a short seperation. I think I would give it at least a week, though. The screaming seems to stop after a couple of days but I think I'd give it a few more days to make sure the ewes are dry.

BH tries to get all the fat lambs away off their mums so they get as little of a check as possible. But we have to wean keeping ewe lambs and any fat lambs we're having to run on. It suits us to keep them all seperate after that.

We had one highly-sexed shearling last year got in-lamb while she still had her first lamb with her. She wasn't meant to have been tupped as a hogg but there'd been a slip-up, and then she led our new tup lamb astray while her first lamb was only 4 months old! She's been named Floosy.... Anyway, she had a marvellous single tup lamb on 12th Feb this year and did a great job with him. (So great he went to market three weeks ago and topped the mart for Charollais lambs. So she'll get a good rest this time, anyway!)

I also agree about letting the gimmers see lambs being born; we put a few older ewes in with any tupped hoggs and with the shearlings so that the first-timers see lambs being born and get used to having them around. I do think it helps.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #4 on:** June 06, 2011, 11:37:56 am »

I love Floosy

a sheep with a mind of her own

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #5 on:** June 06, 2011, 12:09:04 pm »

Quote from: Fleecewife on June 06, 2011, 11:37:56 am

I love Floosy a sheep with a mind of her own

I'm not so sure about her mind... I think the hormones have control!

VSS · « **Reply #6 on:** June 06, 2011, 12:18:37 pm »

Quote from: Rosemary on June 05, 2011, 09:38:12 pm

can I leave them with their mammys until their mammys go to the tup, when I would be splitting the group anyway?

It can be harder to get the ewes in lamb if you leave the lambs on them too long. We lamb second fornight of March and usually wean first week of August (but your Ryelands will be fine to wean a bit earlier that that). The ewes then get just under two clear months before they go in with the teasers are the beginning of October. Good idea to give them a bit of "me time".

andywalt · « **Reply #7 on:** June 11, 2011, 08:20:29 am »

Very interesting reading guys, I have a question, prob a silly one.....can you please explain a "teaser please" VSS thanks very much

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #8 on:** June 11, 2011, 10:32:09 am »

A teaser is a hormonally active but sexually incompetent male sheep. Usually a 'rig', where one testicle hasn't descended - either through nature, or more usually castration leaving one testicle inside.

Winter before last we had a really cold spell mid-December. Mid-May a number of us suddenly had unexpected lambs, or incorrectly bred lambs. It turned out that it was so cold that the internal testicles of teasers running with ewes began to work!

A neighbour uses Blue-faced Leicester teasers then leaves them running with the mule ewes. Mid-May he had a batch of lambs from the mules that were certainly not from Texel tups.

We had accidentally

left a teaser running with the keeping ewe lambs (not supposed to be tupped) and had 10 of them lamb unexpectedly mid-May.

You can be sure that this winter, all teasers were carefully removed from ewes as soon as the cold weather came! (And on this farm we double-checked the sex of all our keeping ewe lambs ...)

andywalt · « **Reply #9 on:** June 11, 2011, 10:42:10 am »

So what is the point of a "teaser" or "rig" ? do they help to get the ewes menstrating before the tup is put in or are they to encourage the tup to do his stuff?

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #10 on:** June 11, 2011, 10:47:35 am »

Sorry, yes, their pheromones or whatever get the girls cycling so they're ready for the tup when he goes in. Then hopefully all the ewes get served in the first 17 days and lambing isn't so protracted - as well as maybe being a bit earlier.

We 'teased' accidentally having incorrectly sexed an incorrectly castrated male (

on

) so in our case it made for an extended late lambing! (How wrong can you get it?!)

andywalt · « **Reply #11 on:** June 11, 2011, 10:57:04 am »

Its all experiance and so interesting, so I have some wethers can they be usedas teasers?

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #12 on:** June 11, 2011, 11:01:09 am »

I think properly castrated wethers don't work, no, he needs an internal testicle. But someone who does it on purpose will give you a much better answer.

When we wanted the ewes cycling on the hill, we used to put the tups in the field next to the fell (very very good fences!) which had a similar effect - but not as good as running a teaser in with them as the tups couldn't move around amongst the ewes.

shep53 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 11, 2011, 06:19:29 pm »

A teaser is a vasectomised ram at least 6 mths upwards, the vet does the same as a doctor,you have to leave it for a couple of months as he will still be fertile.You will get the same effect by removing rams out of sight and smell of the ewes then put rams in the next field two weeks before tupping.