[OhLaLa]

The smallest of one of our sets of triplets is a female. Her mum didn't want to know her so she has been bottle fed. Now happily grazing alongside everyone else, she is still the smallest.
Would she be suitable for breeding from in due course (for tupping next season, 2013)? She's a nice little girl but I have my doubts due to her small size.
I know some of you will have had experience in this regard and can advise. Thanks.
    
 

[SteveHants]

I might breed from one if it grew exceptionally well etc. Id be more concerned that she was rejected and bottle fed - rejecting lambs to a certain extent is herediary.


So, in short - no, but not pureley because she was a triplet.

[Rosemary]

My understanding is that prolificacy is also inherited, so if she's well grown, she might be a good bet for breeding. But I take Steve's point about mothering.

[kelpy]

i've bred  from bottle fed lambs & never had a problem with them rearing there own lambs.
you can run her on & see how well grown she is,she should catch up with the others.
kelly

[omnipeasant]

I agree with kelpy bottle fed lambs can and do make excellent mothers as long as they have been reared with other sheep. If she thinks she is a dog she mght be better having a litter of pups. ( Sorry, I seem to be in a funny mood this morning) But seriously,  no reason why not. You might also finds that she catches the others up eventually.

[SallyintNorth]

First off, if you don't want to keep her, then don't feel the need to justify it, send her away.

However, if you want to keep her on, here are my thoughts.

Prolificewjbsdgksdbsbd - number of lambs - can be inherited, yes - but this year we and our neighbours have all had ludicrously high proportions of triplets, so we'd not count that against her (we try to breed out any tendency to triplets) this year.

She's small because she was a triplet.  If she's still small next year when you want to tup her, then select her out at that point.

Two years ago our neighbour had all our orphan ewe lambs off us to rear as a foundation flock.  We advised against it, saying that pet lambs usually don't make good mothers - in fact, they can be hard to get into lamb.

She took 6 anyway, and we tupped them for her last backend.  The 6 had 9 lambs between them, of which one was born dead, and all 8 remaining were super lambs and have done very well.  The ewes were no more nor no less good at mothering than any other gimmer ewe.  The lambs are outstanding, several farmers in the area have commented on it.  We smile wryly, and say, "Ah, well - they were well bred."   

Dan, need emoticon for eating these words: "pet lambs usually don't make good mothers - in fact, they can be hard to get into lamb" - wrong wrong wrong!   

[Remy]

My little Gotland Tiny was one of triplets, and she also nearly died earlier this year and was very behind the others in growth.  However, she has come on amazingly since then and apart from catching an eye infection is almost the size of the other Gotlands.  She will be going to my ram this year 


I had four cade ewes which I bottle fed from about two weeks old, they have been the most fantastic mums and have produced twins and triplets for the last five years, all of which were fed successfully by their mums and grew to standard (or even large) market size.  I don't see any reason why an orphan lamb would be any different to breed from?

[feldar]

Just a quick imput from me who had a small triplet and kept it. Usually we see sense and everything too small or not up to scratch goes.
We had a triplet out of a good line and we ran her on with the others, for one reason or another she got kept and went to ram herself. Well i have to say her ram lamb is being shown this year and is the biggest strapping boy we've got!
So i would say look into her genetics, if you know them if she came from a good line she may be worth keeping

[Haylo-peapod]

One of my smallest ewes (granted not a triplet, but she was tiny when she was born) has repeatedly produced some of my best ram lambs for the freezer - they are typically the first to get up to weight. I was really quite concerned about putting the tup to her the first year but she just got on with it with no fuss.

[OhLaLa]

Thanks to all for your thoughts on this. Valid points have been raised.
 

....she's small because she was a triplet.  If she's still small next year when you want to tup her, then select her out at that point.

As usual SallyintNorth, sound advice. I'll go with this.
 
She was bottle fed (with some lads who are not keepers) but has always been kept with the other lambs and treated as such so that she'd grow up being a sheep, not a person. I'd prefer to keep her so let's hope she catches up  . There's no rush and it's no bother at all to keep her in the flock.
 
Agree re the high percentage of triplets/twins this year. We had no singles at all. I've put it down to the grass being so good. Flushed by nature, bless 'em.
    
 
 

[Ladygrey]

I have a suffolk Mule who was a bottle fed triplet, she grew well and is suffolk sized,
She has had two lots of twins so far over two lambings and her lambs are HUGE! she is a lovely tame ewe and a lovely mummy

[SteveHants]

Just a quick imput from me who had a small triplet and kept it. Usually we see sense and everything too small or not up to scratch goes.
We had a triplet out of a good line and we ran her on with the others, for one reason or another she got kept and went to ram herself. Well i have to say her ram lamb is being shown this year and is the biggest strapping boy we've got!
So i would say look into her genetics, if you know them if she came from a good line she may be worth keeping

This is what I'd do, more or less - still wouldnt keep anything that was mismothered though that'd be the strike out for me.


Also, small lambs are less likely to be profilgate as ewes, in spite of there (as ever) being exceptions to the rule, and less likely to have the ability to rear multiples.


There was a really interesting lecture about this by John Vipond at southsheep last week: 'choosing replacements'.






* I say 'really interesting' - it was to me, but I am something of a geek. 

[SallyintNorth]

There was a really interesting lecture about this by John Vipond at southsheep last week: 'choosing replacements'.
* I say 'really interesting' - it was to me, but I am something of a geek. 

John Vipond is a really good presenter, I'd have been interested too    I expect he did the same presentation at ScotSheep.  I was there, but didn't have time to look in on the seminars 

wouldnt keep anything that was mismothered though that'd be the strike out for me.

I agree mothering is equally as inheritable a trait as prolificthingywossname.  However, there's a lot to be said for a ewe who knows what she can cope with and makes a good job of two rather than failing to rear three, getting mastitis and losing the lot.  Equally, of course, oftentimes the ewe knows something about the rejected / less favoured lamb - so if such a lamb was always on the sick list, always first to need worming, always first to be lame, etc, then I'd select her out.

[feldar]

I missed the lecture at Sheep South and the one on Smallenberg, unfortunately i was manning the Hampshire Down Stand and we were a bit short staffed so didn't get a chance to go far.
Did manage a trip around the farm though,  Lovely place!  but a bit too horsey for me, don't like the way they dictated what you could grow because of the racehorses.
On the plus side our son came third in the young shepherd competition. We are very proud of him.
Thought numbers were a bit down this year, didn't seam that many people about. I hear Scot sheep was heaving

[Mallows Flock]

I bred my small QUAD ewe lamb when she was 18 months old...she is Charolais x Shetland and I put a small ram on her first time...a nice, polite Shetland ram. She had twins first go, both fit and strong and she regained condition nicely. I love bottle fed ewes. My first ever breeders (and my absolute most beloved girls) were bottle fed Charolais x lleyn and they are amazing mothers.. great at just popping them out and getting on with it, and cos they are friendly their lambs are calm and not flighty round us! Brilliant sheep!