Author Topic: Is it worth keeping a small Ewe lamb? (Read 9588 times)

Hillview Farm · « **Reply #15 on:** July 28, 2013, 07:59:28 pm »

She isn't a poor doer. I believe looking closely at the other lambs she isn't as suffolky as the others. Its also possible the ewe was covered by a different ram. I will keep her and see how she does, If she seems poor then i'll put her in the freezer if this time next year she has come right I will keep her

SteveHants · « **Reply #16 on:** July 29, 2013, 12:53:38 pm »

If a lamb is 10Kg lighter than the others of the same age......what about it makes it not a poor doer?

Even maternal breds should keep up with the terminal breeds up to a point, they will just end up smaller overall so tend to tail off towards weaning.

Small Farmer · « **Reply #17 on:** July 29, 2013, 05:10:07 pm »

One of our ewes had quads and the three survivors hadn't done as well the others up to about 4 weeks ago when they were weaned and and put on fresh grass. Two of them have nearly caught up with the rest but the gimmer remains small - she was only 2.5kg at birth and will never make it to 40kg.

Hillview Farm · « **Reply #18 on:** July 29, 2013, 05:32:41 pm »

I believe she was covered by another ram

roddycm · « **Reply #19 on:** July 31, 2013, 03:37:42 pm »

Absolutely agree, just because the mother is good doesnt mean she is good. I breed pedigree black welsh and sometimes the ones that have won all the shows produce the worst lambs... Then you put them to a different ram and they produce something thats just as good as if not better than themselves.
Age of the mother and litter size can also play a part in growth. If the ewe is old and she was one of multiple lambs then she has a good chance of catching up and being just fine. Always select for improvement when retaining lambs, it will make your life much easier. Easy lambers, milkey, good feet etc etc
Keep her for a while longer, see how she goes and decide before you put her to the ram if she can breed or should go in the freezer! Thats what i would do

Alicenz · « **Reply #20 on:** August 01, 2013, 02:51:04 pm »

poor wee lamb, lucky for her you are keen to give her a chance! Mine were all orphans mostly ones that would not feed properly for up to a week so would have been dead had i not persevered. Their start was extremely weak. They survived and are pets but I have the largest sheep in my area, they are healthy and strong, and some of them took a couple years to grow, as i said, but even the 'gimmer' (runt of triplets?) is only slightly shorter but strong and stocky. If you are willing to give her time, she may grow.

Why not give her supplementary feed? It will give her more of a chance to catch up and be a strong ewe for breeding wont it? Then if she is as strong as she can be healthwise her slow growth rate wont particularly be a factor in her offspring will it? I dont think it is always hereditory- i may be wrong. But i understand your reasoning for saying only keep the best for breeding. My two massive sheep came from quite smaller to medium sized ewes, and 15of the others came from miserable smaller sheep on very hard dryland with very little grass. I believe alot of their growth was to do with the good quality feed provided in the first two years.

newclosefarm · « **Reply #21 on:** August 01, 2013, 06:27:16 pm »

Quote from: Marches Farmer on July 28, 2013, 07:32:23 pm

I'm with Steve. Breeding from anything less than top quality is storing up trouble. Just because her dam was a good sheep .... The lamb may take after her great-great grandmama, who was also a poor doer.

I would disagree with this, we breed poll dorsets and had a lamb abandoned at birth and no foster ewe so she was a bottle lamb. She was close to death a couple of times with coccidiosis, she lambed a ewe lamb last autumn and is now expecting twins this autumn. She is a cracking looking ewe now but resembled a starved goat when she was tiny as all her wool came off because she had got a temperature. The point is you can't take it as gospel just because they start badly they will always be no good. Give your girl a chance especially if you've only got a few sheep

Hillview Farm · « **Reply #22 on:** August 01, 2013, 07:11:26 pm »

Thank you both newclosefarm and Alicenz. Both very encouraging comments. I'll see how she does and if she makes the mark she'll stay!

SteveHants · « **Reply #23 on:** August 01, 2013, 10:49:43 pm »

Quote from: Alicenz on August 01, 2013, 02:51:04 pm

Why not give her supplementary feed? It will give her more of a chance to catch up and be a strong ewe for breeding wont it? Then if she is as strong as she can be healthwise her slow growth rate wont particularly be a factor in her offspring will it? I dont think it is always hereditory- i may be wrong. But i understand your reasoning for saying only keep the best for breeding. My two massive sheep came from quite smaller to medium sized ewes, and 15of the others came from miserable smaller sheep on very hard dryland with very little grass. I believe alot of their growth was to do with the good quality feed provided in the first two years.

Because you give her more feed, then it is likely her offspring will also need more feed and therefore you are breeding a feed bill into your flock, unescessarily, which is fine if you have an enormous wallet and want to make less money out of your sheep as opposed to more. Her slow growth rate will absolutely be a potential factor in her offspring - its why people bother recording these things to improve their flocks.

If the OP believes it was tupped by another animal, thats fine, if you want to keep those lines in your flock - my maternal lambs keep up with the terminal sire crosses up to about 25-30Kg when the terminal sire lambs just keep growing - I assume this is because they have a higher mature weight.

Still wouldn't keep it myself though.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #24 on:** August 02, 2013, 11:38:54 am »

I'm still with Steve on this one - breeding pets doesn't do the breed any favours and I always come down on the side of "cull" rather than "don't cull". Feed can sometimes do the job of bringing a poor doer up to scratch but, when you factor in not only the cost of the feed but the extra labour involved in handling and distributing it, it rarely makes commercial sense. We specialise in rare breed sheep, pigs and poultry but had to spend the first few years eliminating all the animals and birds that were less than excellent. Our rams are now being sought out by commercial breeders who want a good carcase and a lamb that can survive the challenging weather we've had in recent years that have found the Continentals don't come up to scratch - I don't think that would have happened if we'd bred them "soft".