[Gunestone]

So we have this ram lamb on our ewes and he has been in since the 11th of November. He has not tupped a single ewe, which seems very odd. Either he is not interested at all, or the ewes aren't cycling. Should we wait a bit longer or get another tup for them?

[harmony]

I assume that he is raddled. I would swap tup.

[shep53]

One full cycle , all should have been tupped ,even if not cycling when the ram went in after a week to 10days they should have started , so change the ram

[bj_cardiff]

How old is the Ram lamb and how old are the ewes? Sometime you get a ram that's just not interested.

[Gunestone]

Thanks for the replies, I think we'll have to get another ram. The ewes are all experienced except one, two 5 year olds, a 4 year old and a shearling.  The ram was born in May and is small compared to the ewes, but he shows no interest in them at all.

[twizzel]

One full cycle , all should have been tupped ,even if not cycling when the ram went in after a week to 10days they should have started , so change the ram

My ewes weren’t tupped this year until day 19-23 this year. Only 1 went before that on day 1! But the rest all came cycling together a little later than normal.

[SallyintNorth]

Thanks for the replies, I think we'll have to get another ram. The ewes are all experienced except one, two 5 year olds, a 4 year old and a shearling.  The ram was born in May and is small compared to the ewes, but he shows no interest in them at all.

He may be a bit young still.

You didn’t answer is he raddled?  Some tups aren’t very demonstrative and don’t even stick to cycling ewes for hours, so simply not seeing any action doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any tupping .

[Anke]

If he has got a raddle on it may be chafing... I have found that raddles don't work very well, as the slightest bit of rubbing can put the tup off totally. Have now just used raddle powder (mixed with vegetable oil) and smeared generously on his chest, and that works well.


I would have thought a May-born lamb may be just a bit on the young side for fully grown ewes, he may actually be a bit intimidated by them all... having said that my ewes were very slow to start cycling - tup (adult) went in Nov 5th and no action at all for the first week, and only 3 tupped by the end of two weeks... but he has speeded up now and hopefully all done by the end of this week.

[Gunestone]

Yes he is raddled, with the powder not a harness. I was thinking he may be young also, the ewes certainly seem to boss him around a lot.

[shep53]

A may born lamb should still be sexually active , are his testes of a good size ?    in all my 50yrs with  maybe 500 rams of different ages the only ram lambs that were slow to be active were  artificially reared in a male only group so had never encountered females .

[m3joeEm]

The ram must be gay...

[crobertson]

Maybe the ewes are late cycling? We started to worry about our ram as he wasn't doing anything, ewes still hung around but then he mated 7 in one day so I think they were late cycling this year.

[SallyintNorth]

Have the ewes been coming on to him?  Have they been calling and pacing the fenceline?  If the latter, he’s not ready / infertile.  If the former, it might be he’s had a go, it all went wrong and it’s put him off, or that he’s simply too immature.  If neither, it could be the ewes haven’t started cycling yet.

[Womble]

it might be he’s had a go, it all went wrong and it’s put him off, or that he’s simply too immature. 

I have a bit of sympathy for that, as it sounds a lot like me as a teenager!

[Marches Farmer]

I'd get another tup, sharpish.  You don't want to leave it any later and be lambing in May when the flies are active.  If the ram lamb was born late May he may well be too immature to work yet.