[Jacob-list] Breeding Questions

[Meg Steensland]

In 2004, I used a ram lamb and at shearing time was told nobody was bred - so, I put the ran back in for as long as I could stand him in the barn - 2 wks and two of  6 ewes got bred and delivered early August twins!  

This year all the crosses lambed in Jan (2 non-Jacob ewes bred to full Jacob ram) and 3 full ewes I got in Sep from Spahr Farm had beed been by a X.  Four of the crosses are already placed and while the family was here looking, the woman picked two full Jaob ewes (2005) with ewe lamb and 2006 ewe that lambed the next day (ewe).  I think we just had our LAST Jacob lamb today to a yearling - 3 of 6 2006 lambs lambed in 2007 and I do not think the other three even tried to get bred (too small - young). I will not re-expose them but am trying to get the ewe that lost her Feb (cold) lambs and a Jan lambing ewe rebred for August.

Neal and Louise Grose <nlgrose at yadtel.net> wrote:       November might be exceptionally LATE  lambing. Seasonal breeders breed when the hours of daylight start to shorten,  July at the earliest. with a 5 month gestation, that puts them lambing in  December at the earliest. Most Jacob's Sheep will lamb February through  May. Lambing can be modified by several factors, such as temperature and  nutrition. Ewes do not generally conceive while in negative energy balance,  which is almost always the case in our climate (North Carolina) in June  and July. Fall growth of high energy cool season grasses will have a  natural flushing effect.  
  
 Aseasonal breeders such as Dorsett and Finn do  not respond as much to day length, but November lambing is the least frequent in  these as well. This makes it hard to figure out why a Jacob type sheep  would lamb in November, even if cross-breeding were involved. In my experience,  ewes that abort late in season or that lose a lamb early in season can come back  into heat and conceive even if they are technically "out of season". I have had  several cases like this that lambed in July and even August. 
  
 Another factor is that ewe lambs often do not  conform to what is normal. I prefer to put rams in the last weekend in October  and take them out before Christmas. This puts 90% of the lambs born during two  weeks in April on pasture with no barns. The ewe lambs that are in good growth  and weight will lamb, but about half do not. However, nature wants things  to reproduce. In rare cases, a cold snap in June and high nutrition might  be enough to kick ewes that did not reproduce in the previous season into  gear.
  
 Neal Grose
 North Carolina
  
  
    ----- Original Message ----- 
   From:    Gotothewhip at aol.com 
   To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
   Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 11:08    PM
   Subject: [Jacob-list] Breeding    Questions
   

   I'm confused.. As I Thought Jacobs were out of season breeders.. and I    have 2 November 2006 lambs in my new flock..... Are these just exceptionally    early lambs?



      
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