[ThomasR]

My tup has jumped the fence into the ewe lambs.  I was wondering if there is any way that I can get the ewes out of lamb, other than stressing them out? Is there a "morning after" pill for sheep?

[fsmnutter]

Your vet can give them an injection which works most times but is not guaranteed, and/or you can have them scanned at the usual post tupping time to see if any are in lamb, and manage any that are extra carefully.

[Marches Farmer]

What breed? He may have jumped over in response to one cycling but most native breeds will stop cycling around this time of year.  If you intend to get them scanned and normally give them some hard feed over Winter it won't hurt them to have a little extra feed as they'll still be growing themselves as well as growing their lambs.

[Tim W]

You can inject with 'Cyclix' which will cause them to abort

The window I think is between 12 and 45 days pregnant

I've just done 145 of them----ask me how well it works next spring

[Penninehillbilly]

You can inject with 'Cyclix' which will cause them to abort

The window I think is between 12 and 45 days pregnant

I've just done 145 of them----ask me how well it works next spring

So if I had my goat injected (estrumate?) at about 4 days I wasted about £35? Would explain why she hasn't been in season again 

[Anke]

I have just had a ewe lamb injected with Estrumate at 14 days after the (observed) mating, and will have to go back for another one 5 days after the 1st injection. No idea if it is different for goats, and hope it works...

[ThomasR]

They are Hebrideans. New fencing is going to be going. H e has jumped over a fence that he should not be able to jump, it has double barbed wire it taller than most. Many bad words were shouted at him , he did this when he was on rent this year for somebody else and now he is back he wants more. he has had over 20 ewes this year. He has been warned that he next time will be his last. If they are in lamb then I will be lambing from February until May, many sleepless nights.

[Tim W]

No idea about estrumate ---not even sure if it is the same drug as cyclix, someone will enlighten us I guess

My 145 were the result of somebodies ram getting in with my stud ewes (didn't think to tell anyone it had escaped 2 weeks previously )
Difference in price between fat/store lambs and my breeding sheep is considerable otherwise I would just have left it ----& the guy has no insurance!

So just to put it in perspective and encourage anyone who doesn't carry livestock insurance to reconsider

Store lamb value in August = £50?
I sell breeding ewe lambs in August at £105 (and have deposits for 2016 born lambs)

Multiply that by 145 ewes at 150% lambing rate
Add in 30 ram lambs at £700
Add in lack of genetic progress for a year
Add in any disease that the stray ram could have brought in and you could be looking at a large bill

[verdifish]

What breed? He may have jumped over in response to one cycling but most native breeds will stop cycling around this time of year.  If you intend to get them scanned and normally give them some hard feed over Winter it won't hurt them to have a little extra feed as they'll still be growing themselves as well as growing their lambs.

Most natives will most definitely not stop cycling this time of the year!!!! 

[Hillview Farm]

Estrumate Is the same as cyclix

[Penninehillbilly]

I have just had a ewe lamb injected with Estrumate at 14 days after the (observed) mating, and will have to go back for another one 5 days after the 1st injection. No idea if it is different for goats, and hope it works...

Interesting, she didn't say anything about a second injection :-(
Just hoping if she is still in kid kidding goes OK and no deformities.

At least with goats they let you know when they are in season,
I know this is probably daft, but with sheep, can you tell if the fleece is messed up on the rump if she has been mated?

[Anke]

I actually saw the tup lamb merrily tupping away, so knew the exact day and who he was on for definite... my vet had to phone the company to make sure what the protocol for sheep is, as they don't often do them. I have also seen him on an adult ewe (she was wagging her tail at him like goats do!), not sure if he was successful as there is quite a height difference between pure Shetland (tup) lamb and adult Gotland ewe with some texel in her..., but I have left her and hopefully not too many others, he was in for a couple of days.

Reason I got this ewe lamb injected, is that she is a nice grey katmoget and he is white, so not a good match... I am not so worried about the white ones anyway, I know who daddy will be... and can make sure Heptavac and some feed goes in at the right time...

A friend has had to have one of her female kids done, I think it was single injection, but not 100% sure. She definitely came back into season.... and was caught again by a very agile buckling that managed to jump out from somewhere he definitely shouldn't have...

[Big Light]

Are you renaming him Mr very Friendly lol

[ThomasR]

Are you renaming him Mr very Friendly lol

Yes very Friendly with somebody else if He does it again, like the butcher for example. It's a pity he has been so good up until now. This year has been sheep wise problem free and we only had a few more days to go and boom. My neighbour has just seen him jump from the ewe lamb field back into the mature ewes, so who knows how long he has been doing this. Might just have to handle the ewe lambs a lot as well to stress them out and make them abort. Had a Hebridean ewe lamb in lamb because a tup jumped the fence last year so we improved the fence. The tups are a serious nightmare.

[fsmnutter]

We figured out very quickly how agile Heb tups can be. Within days of separating them in our first year, around August, he had jumped the fence and gotten in with everyone, thankfully got him out minutes later. Since then, the tup has had heras fence panels between him and whichever ladies he's not to get at! Coincidentally mostly keeps the billy goat contained too!