[princesslayer]

Does anyone do natural weaning, ie letting the lambs stay with mum until the tup goes in or until they go to the abbattoir?

Does anyone wean without giving creep, just on grass?

Lastly, does keeping lambs with mum until tup goes in effect them cycling?

I'm just thinking about my options, thanks.

[Rosemary]

We don't naturally wean although we don't wean until 16 weeks, by which time the ewes have almost weaned the lambs. We don't creep feed either.

[landroverroy]

I lamb in April and by moving them around so they are always on good grass, I sell most of my lambs fat and straight off their mothers in August/September. They get no creep feed, as in my experience there is nothing fattens an animal more efficiently than good quality clean grass.I take the tup lambs out then, which have not impregnated their mothers because while they are still feeding their lambs, a ewe doesn't normally cycle. 

[Marches Farmer]

I'm taking my ewes away from the lambs in mid July this year, having read a study that recommends weaning at 13 weeks - I'll give it a try and see how well everything does.  Apart from 6 weeks before and 4 weeks after lambing for the ewes none of our sheep have additional feed.  The meat quality ram lambs will be ready to go in November, at minimal cost, and any ewe lambs unsuitable for breeding will go as hoggett lamb in February.

[princesslayer]

I'm taking my ewes away from the lambs in mid July this year, having read a study that recommends weaning at 13 weeks - I'll give it a try and see how well everything does.

What advantages did the study say for weaning at this age?

[landroverroy]

That's what I was wondering!
To me, if you've plenty of grass you might as well leave the lambs on their mothers as long as possible.
If you're selling them fat off grass in summer, then to wean them before they go to to market/abbatoir is causing an unnecessary growth check.
I would only wean the lambs any earlier if I were short of grass and didn't have enough quality grazing for the ewes as well.

[kate7590]

My lambs wean naturally.
We're VERY new to sheep keeping, only having 3 lambs from December/January which are still with their mothers and the 2 cade shearlings we have. 2 of the lambs will be going to the abattoir in November (at 10months) and the other lamb, a wether, will stay with the group until the 2 ewes are put to a ram, again probably in November.

[Tim W]

No hard rule for weaning age----judge it according to grass availability and ewe condition. But anything from 10 weeks on suits me
If you have plenty of grass and the ewes are not losing condition then I have left them to 20 weeks+ 
When grass is short I wean at 10 wks /12 wks and give the best to the lambs, that means that the ewes have longer to recover

I prefer weaning early as I get better overall growth rates on lambs this way and much better performance from ewes in the following year as they have longer to recover before tupping

Never fed creep

Lactating ewes don't take the tup as well as dry ewes (exceptions for a few breeds ----Frieslands/Lacuane/Barbados Black Belly etc)

[Liz Kershaw]

I think it all depends on why you're keeping the sheep - people who are primarily interested in selling for meat, or specialising in show competition will have a different agenda than people (like me) who have them to graze an awkward bit of land and because I really like sheep! Last year my March born lambs were weaned 1st week of September and only had to be kept apart from their mums for a short while as they were pretty well weaned anyway. We'll do the same this year. Both ewes last year were tupped in November and caught with twins.

[Hellybee]

We lambed a little later this year, so that will push our weaning out to September.  2/3 of the flock matures, who we will dry and flush accordingly, then there's the last third who will be first timers (oh hells teeth) and will run separately.

[SallyintNorth]

In the commercial flock, we prefer to sell finished lambs straight off their mothers - less stress all round, and no growth check.  In fact, in a good year we will get a few batches away have never been handled apart from ringing at birth.

Depending on the year we may wean in late summer and give the ewes a rest before going back to the tup.  BH prefers to not flush and is very happy with single lambs (gives us an early crop and a heck of a lot less work), so there may be very little gap between weaning and the tup going in.

Very late weaned lambs don't seem to miss their mams, nor their mams miss them, so it's certainly less stress for them all than early weaning.  And less risk of mastitis for the mothers too - not only are they not producing as much milk anyway, but also you are past the most nutritious stage of grass growth, so they are not getting pumped full of rocket fuel (causing more milk production, which can lead to mastitis if you've just taken the lambs off) if you leave them on good pasture.

I do want to stress that lactation is not a contraceptive - there are no guarantees that a lactating ewe will not take the tup, so only leave entire lambs with their dams, or the tup running with the ewes and lambs, if you are happy to have the occasional accident.   (We do get a few some years, and don't mind.)

I would certainly replace milk with cake, at least for a few weeks, if I weaned early.  .Weaning later, the lambs just carry on eating whatever they've been used to.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Does anyone do natural weaning, ie letting the lambs stay with mum until the tup goes in or until they go to the abbattoir?

Does anyone wean without giving creep, just on grass?

Lastly, does keeping lambs with mum until tup goes in effect them cycling?

I'm just thinking about my options, thanks.

I take the lambs out at the end of summer and seperate the ram lambs from the ewe lambs and feed seperately, about a month or two before the ram goes in. All in all it works well, because the ewes have time to rest before getting in lamb again.

[Marches Farmer]

I'm taking my ewes away from the lambs in mid July this year, having read a study that recommends weaning at 13 weeks - I'll give it a try and see how well everything does.

What advantages did the study say for weaning at this age?

Study said that the benefit to the lambs was so small as to be negligible, whereas the ewe had more time to get back in good condition before tupping.  I guess it's also influenced by how early the tup goes in, how good the grazing is and whether you flush the ewes or, as we do, aim to keep them in reasonable condition year round as our Autumn/Winter weather is so unpredictable.