[Rosemary]

I had a nice tup lamb born 30th March. As a single, he's quite well grown and all his bits seem to be "appropriate". I thought he might as well do something useful this autumn so he's at my chums with four ewes and his wether companion. He's been out now for about two weeks and had done nothing. Carol's big ram, who's in the adjacent field, has covered all his ewes.

Is there something wrong with Bud or are we being too impatient this time? Or is he just too young to be working?

Help!!

[shetlandpaul]

must be toyoung what breed is he. our shetland was only just up to the job last year. they can be shy you know.

[Rosemary]

He's a coloured Ryeland. Any videos we could let him watch? 

[doganjo]

How do you know he hasn't been busy?

[Rosemary]

He's got a ram harness on with a keel marker and none of the ewes have coloured bums. 

[VSS]

Unless the ewes were teased, they may not start cycling until the ram's been in for a fortnight.
Wouldn't recommend using a harness on a tup lamb. Ok for a mature animal, but a bit off-putting for a youngster. Put some raddle paste on his chest (or make your own by mixing powder paints with margarine or oil).

[shetlandpaul]

they can be really shy. and they do take there time to cover the ewes. so unless you don't mind waiting for a month or two borrow a randy old sheep.

[kaz]

I used a ram lamb last year with 3ewes, 1 had lambed before and two not. The older ewe and one of the
younger ewes lambed the other ewe was probably too big for him last year, but not this.

This year I am using two ram lambs on a complete mixed age group of ewes. 1 I have seen working and the other is more laid back he only comes out to play at night.

I would agree about using a ram harness on a lamb. Use a raddle powder or smother his chest with a crayon.

[shrekfeet]

how many times would you expect the ram to cover a ewe? Is a little crayon marking okay or should it be very well marked?

[VSS]

It varies - they are all individuals. Some tups mark heavily, others don't. The weather can make a difference too. Wet sheep don't mark well and crayons are softer, so mark heavier when it is warm.

As to how many times you can expect a tup to mate a ewe, again it depends. If a ram has lots of ewes in season at the same time and they are all queuing up, then not many.
 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Our ram lambs seem to do the job ok at about a year old. I remember putting a load of cull ewes in with them and they got them all in lamb. 

[Tim W]

I use 7 month old ram lambs and expect them to get 30+ out of 50 in lamb in 10 days

[Bionic]

I used a Coloured Ryeland lamb on my 5 ewes last year. 1 hadn't lambed before but it was the second time for the others. 4 out of the 5 had twins and the other a single.
The lad done well 

[Marches Farmer]

If he's in with older ewes they'll probably seek him out.  First-timersf are better with an older ram, unless you don't mind an extended lambing period..

[Ladygrey]

I have a 7 month old charmoise ram lamb and he covered all 7 of his in the first week, I put paint on his chest but not a harness