[Jacob-list] is she bred or not?

[Mary Hansson]

Victoria,
 
You don't say how long the ewes were with the ram, how old the ram was, or many other details that would all be relevant to the breeding likelihood of ANY ewe.  
 
A yearling (over 12 months of age this fall) should breed just like any other mature ewe.  If you had a 4 month old lamb in there, the bets would be that she wouldn't be bred---although there is one breeder that (OOPS) left a brother and sister together until 4 months and found a lamb 5 months later.....  I actually saw the lamb/mom/dad and know this to have occurred.
 
Ewes typically cycle somewhere between 14-17 days apart and it is generally recommended to leave rams in with them at a bare minimum 2 full cycles.  Betty Behrlenbach puts her rams in for a very short time, and I put mine in typically for 5 months or so----until I can't stand the rams any longer.
 
Last year, I pulled the rams the first week in November after realizing how many lambs COULD show up at my place in the spring if everybody were bred.  As a result, approximately 1/3 of my flock didn't lamb---which was fine with me in my particular circumstances and the particular year.  This year, the rams went in sometime in Sept (I think---on my fridge) and they will be in until Christmas/New Year's.  This way, if a ewe does NOT lamb, she is going to auction unless there is one darned good reason to keep a barren ewe.
 
If it were me, I wouldn't move the sheep around.  The head touching/butting is jostling for position in the flock---NOT breeding behavior!  That happens at the other end of the animal.
 
Mary Ellen




Mary Ellen Hansson, MEd, RD, LDN
ISeeSpots Farm
Jacob Sheep:  Lambs, adults, wool
www.iseespots.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20041206/0555efd6/attachment.htm