[andywalt]

once you have introduced your tup how long should I allow him to serve before moving him on to others? does a ewe come into season every two weeks?

I hope you dont mind asking random questions....


regards


andy

[Rosemary]

Ewes come into season every 15-17 days, I think. Why don't you just mix the ewes and let him deal with them as one group? A tup should be able to cope with 40 ewes, if he's fit and in good condition.

I think most folk have the rams in for 4 - 6 weeks, giving the ewes 2 cycles to get pregnant. But it's up to you - if you only want a two week lambing period, put him in for two weeks. Downside is he might not successfully cover as many ewes as he would in a four week period. If you are using raddle, you'll be able to see when each ewe is mated.

[andywalt]

thanks rosemary.......bit of a long story, have a run of fields at a stables (stable owners wouldnt want any more) 16 Suffolk x romneys (most should already be in lamb from tup where purchased), but will put in tup to clear up any that arnt) approx 1.5 miles away, and I am agreeing some rented land behind us approx 5-6 acres where I have put a deposit on 10 lleyns sheerlings arriving in two weeks, never been with a tup, so was thinking of 3 weeks with the suffolks to clear up the empties and then put him with the lleyns for lambs  early april

[daddymatty82]

as they used to say put ram in on guy Fawkes day and will be ready on april fool day so the Victorian farm women once said. are you using a raddle on your tup?can you not put the ewes in the fields your about to get  for 4 weeks till all tupped give the land abit of rest at one end also?

[andywalt]

I would be a bit worried to move them as most of them are in lamb already some of them will be 6-8 weeks, so I am wary to give them the stress.....

[daddymatty82]

surely if moved now it would be ok dont use the dog if you got pregnant sheep just move them slow and steadey  we moved our 50+ shetlands  and all had twins we moved the last lot home from a friends tup a week before due date so sooner rather than later should be ok for a fortnight or so

[andywalt]

but the other grazing is 5 miles away and id have to load them on a trailer and I havnt got the second field fenced yet. alsothe stables owners like them at the stables so I dont want to upset them especially as its only costing me two lambs a year

[daddymatty82]

well you could leave the pregnant ewes there to keep them happy then  move the empty ewes over for a month then move back and problem sorted just dont use the dog and move around them slower not to spook them to much  we had to inject and drench ours and a friends flocks a month before dropping and 2 weeks before 1st lambing  they were fine getting in then it took 2 of us to handle each one as soon as you grabbed it it took off then lease you had 2 guys to pin it down for a few seconds untill the needle bent every few sheep then it took abit longer as we had to sort out the diferant colours to get theright ones in the shed at the right time.all good fun on a winters sunday in the pouring sleet

[ellisr]

we sheared 3 fat ewes this year and as it turned out they were in lamb. Bit of a surprise as we didn't know they had been in with the ram. They lambed fine a few weeks later and had no special treatment whilst sheared (as we didn't know). Ewes can be extraordinarily resilient mother nature gave them that of course only when they aren't looking for a way to die.