[Jacob-list] assisted lambing - an opinion

[Debbie Bennett]

>
  I ask about mothering abilities when I am considering buying a ewe. 
Does she lamb on her own? Is she a good mother? Has she had and/or 
raised twins? If I choose to buy a ewe lamb that is untried, I know I 
am taking my chances on her mothering abilities, but I can still ask 
about her mother's skills as a parent.
  I free-range my ewes; they decide where to lamb, no jugs, and they 
have to care of their lambs (two breeding seasons and they go down the 
road). So, I had a Churro ewe who would only raise one of her lambs 
each year. I was going to eat her, but my neighbor really wanted her 
(even with full disclosure about her not-so-great mothering abilities). 
My neighbor locks her ewes in the barn a week or so prior to their 
lambing and jugs them afterward for at least three days. The ewe that I 
rejected, had twins and is raising them both. So, now she appears to be 
a good mother. I hadn't really thought of jugging as interference 
before this, it was just something I don't have room for. Now I'm glad 
I don't jug my ewes and their lambs, I think I have a truer picture of 
how they mother.
Debbie Bennett
Feral Fibre

> I tend to agree. Maternal characteristics are hard to breed for but 
> easily lost if we do not actively select to maintain them. I try to 
> think of the sheep as a whole, even the flock as a whole, which 
> sometimes puts me at odds with only looking at the breed standard.
>  
> We lamb "on pasture/muddy lot" without assistance and lose a few, 
> particularly early in the season. That said, we do on occasion raise 
> bottle lambs. These are almost never retained for breeding stock, and 
> never the ram lambs. We do have a relatively mild climate.
>  
> Neal Grose
> Harmony, North Carolina
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: gordon johnston
> To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 7:54 AM
> Subject: [Jacob-list] assisted lambing - an opinion
>
> The following appeared on another sheep list and is about Soay, but 
> the same principle could be taken to apply to Jacobs, if their 
> primitive characteristics are to be preserved (and the lesson from 
> British 'big Jacobs' should be learned - most breeders sponge their 
> ewes, lamb indoors and assist whenever necessary, in a sheep which, 
> whatever breeders here claim, has lost much of its easy lambing 
> characteristics)
>  
>  
> <<<<I am uneasy about all this talk about assisted lambing, keeping 
> lambs alive
> etc.  there is a large heritable component to lambing problems, and to
> weakness in lambs.  I would most strongly urge that ewes or lambs with
> problems are not registered, or used to produce soays.  If they would 
> have
> died without assistance, they should be "dead" to the breed - however 
> dear
> to their owner.>>>>
>  
> What do others think of this harsh approach?
> Juliet in Scotland
>
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