[suziequeue]

Well - we've just had our ewes scanned…….. only four pregnant (with six lambs) out of eleven 

Previous years we have had about 120% yield. This year they were only with the ram for three weeks and - although they were all covered, I wonder if they needed a second cycle or something. Certainly neither of the 2012 hoggets fell and all but one of the remaining empty ewes bore healthy lambs last year

Any suggestions as to how we can guarantee a better yield next year? Should we try sponging them do you think?

[Hillview Farm]

Sorry to hear you have had a bad day, Its the thing I'm sure most sheep farmers dread and I certainly do!

Sponging them will get them to cycle within a short period of time so it wont help the number of lambs nor will it help them get in to lamb (conception rate)

What breed do you have,? Do you flush? I take it your using one ram? He may have a low sperm count and only the super fertile ewes have held. Speak to your vet

[Tim W]

It's a worry when you end up with a large %age barren, I've been there & my first reaction is to get a few blood tests for enzo etc to see if there is a problem (I think this is a free VLA testing service but you will have to take the samples yourself or pay the vet)

I always cull anything that doesn't get in lamb---if you keep them you are just perpetuating the problem by keeping less fertile animals
This has been painful in some years but it always pays off as you end up with a better more productive flock

[Me]

Sorry to hear of the bad results.
Sponging wont give you more lambs but the PMSG injection given at sponge removal can, however it can result in undesirable multiples.
As you say all ewes were covered suspicion obviously points to a sub-fertile ram though failure to implant/early abortion could also be the culprit. You could arrange to fertility test the ram, you could assume the ram is infertile and change him (infertility may transient though if caused by an infection releated temperature increase) but before doing anything rash have a chat with a vet who knows your flock

[kanisha]

Hate to add this into the equation but has schmallenberg virus been considered? I understand  depending on timming barren ewes has been reported.

[Rosemary]

  Sorry to hear about your scanning results. I can't add anything to what's already been said but you have my sympathy.

We had out first barren ewes last year - one had had a C section and the other was just barren. We rehomed the first to a per home and gave the other a second chance, but she's barren again this year and will be mutton soon. In hindsight, I should have put her away last year (she had twins the first time that I had to top up with a bottle). Experience is a great teacher though.

Hope you find out the cause 

[suziequeue]

What breed do you have,? Do you flush?

We have Welsh mountain badger faced. We have had them for about four years now and they have always taken well, lambed easily and been good Mums - but maybe we have been lucky. We normally keep the best two ewe lambs each year and the flock is starting to look very pretty indeed although we have no great plans to show them.

We sent them to the ram of a friend of ours who is a known badger faced breeder and has bred champions so he is familiar with the breed…… but if the ram is sub-fertile then that's just bad luck I guess.

What's flushing?? That's definitely something I can learn from this….. maybe we should be doing more of that. They all get wormed etc before they go to the ram.

The ewe that has been empty this and last year will be mutton. I am not familiar with mutton but am looking forward to mutton curry.

I think I need to tell the ram owner of our results but I am worried that he will just blame us or tell me that all the other ewes he covered were absolutely fine and it's our fault 

But actually - if we get six healthy lambs out of it in the spring then that will be grand. I think our flock is almost getting to the maximum sustainable size anyway so a low yield year won't be that much of a hardship. If one of the big ewes go for mutton then I think the freezer will remain full enough

[Me]

Flushing is increasing ewe nutrition a lot pre-tupping to get them to shed more eggs. Don't be worried about blame being placed one way or the other, it would be worth phoning the ram owner for a chat to see if he/she have anything to add

[Hillview Farm]

After weaning the condition of the ewe should be low, put them on poor grass to dry up and then 4-6 weeks pre tupping (depending on how much weight is needed to be put on) my ewes were in slightly better condition so I flushed at about 3 weeks pre tupping. You put the ewes onto good fresh grass or you can actually feed them nuts if really needed but be careful they don't get fat as you will have problems there. As Me said flushing gets the ewes to release more eggs so in theory they should carry more lambs. The ewes body feels that with all the extra grass/cake she will be capable to carry and support a larger litter!

[suziequeue]

Oh right - yes we did give them a bit of a boost pre-tupping. I didn't know that was called flushing. I will pay more attention next time. Certainly this year we didn't send one of the older ewes as she hadn't put on enough condition over the summer….Hoping to get a weighing scales this year   

[Anke]

Depending on when you let the tup in to the ewes - it was actually quite warm in autumn last year, not really that great for covering the ewes.

I did sponge my ewes this year (only putting 9 to the tup), but have found that out of the 6 that went to the white Shetland boy 4 got re-covered after 17 days... so have since gone through all the possible scenarios in my head... and I may have some white lambs or only black ones... (black tup covered his three Gotland girls first time round and did not repeat)

I normally give any barren ewe a second chance, and have had positive results and also negative ones. So it is not always a clear cull straight after being barren - it all depends on what the possible reason was (tup or ewe problem), age of the ewe and condition after a year-off, etc etc If the reason is that tup was in/sub-fertile he will obviously go but that wouldn't mean cull the ewes too...

[suziequeue]

Yes - we had different rams in 2012 and 2013 and one ewe has been barren for both so she will go. The rest have another chance next year and we will be keeping a close eye on them over the summer.

The score is:

12 breeding ewes
11 went to the tup in November
4 pregnant with 6 lambs (2 sets twins, 2 single)
7 empty
6 empty for first time -------> retry in November 2014
1 empty for second time -----> mutton 

Learning points

*   Pay closer attention to weaning/drying off
*   Closer attention to condition
*   Closer attention to flushing
*   Longer spell with the tup (we may hire one for four weeks this time)

[fsmnutter]

Often worth keeping the ram in for 5 weeks, 35 days which gives each ewe 2 cycles to catch the ram. With small flocks, it can be harder to boost cycling, but options include sponges or equivalent hormone treatments, which get them all cycling in a short space of time, or the male effect, which just kick starts cycling after the summer when sheep don't cycle. This involves having access to either a teaser (vasectomised ram) or keeping a ram on the other side of a very good fence for a week or two! The testosterone and male pheromones can mean that the ewes cycles have started fully when the ram goes in and are more likely to take in their first cycle. No biological process is 100%, so normally it is expected to have one or two ewes not take on one cycle. This number barren may be down to the wrong conditions for conception, could be too hot, cold or anything that upsets the system. It could be poor ram fertility, or likewise he could've had an upset, lameness, infection upsetting sperm production. If you have any lamb deaths or abortions, it could be an infectious process and would be worth getting samples of any lost lambs tested to see if vaccination would help next year. Also following on from talk about flushing, you may find the ewes weren't in tip top condition, too fat or thin will reduce conception rates. As you say your flock has increased, it may almost be natural selection at work, with less conception as there is less grass etc to go round.
As many have said in the past, scanning % doesn't mean much, its the ones you wean, and with fewer lambs to focus on, you will be able to do your best for them

[debbigord]

I feel your pain- we used the same ram as last year but he was walking poorly and we didn't see him working. I had my girls (9) scanned as I had doubts and sure enough only 1 pregnant with twins, rest are empty. Bitterly disappointed but seeing it as an opportunity to get our long awaited pig project started this year, and hopefully we will have two little lambs to enjoy.

[mowhaugh]

Really sorry to hear that, lots of good advice above.