[Jacob-list] breeding ewe lambs

[Betty Berlenbach]

I don't breed ewe lambs because I am convinced that breeding anything before their frames are  fully developed is not a good thing.  Also, it seems that nine out of ten times that people on the list talk about problems, they are with ewe lambs having babies...a thirteen year old can have a baby, but it really isn't the best course of action for her.  I don't breed ewe lambs, don't have problems lambing (two interventions in 10 years) and haven't lost a lamb in 8 years.  That, to me, is the kind of track record that suggests that maybe breeding ewe lambs, at least with this flock and in this place, is not a good idea.  I have only had one mother reject a lamb, and she was 14 and had only one working teat.  She wanted both boys with her, but apparently decided she only had enough milk to feed one, so I fed the other who stayed with her, but she nudged him to me for the bottle.  That was six years ago.

Is there anyone out there who breeds ewe lambs who has had only one rejection in ten years and hasn't lost a lamb in 8 years?  If so, I will consider my evidence as not related to ewe lambs, but just some other practices or the particular lines I have.
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