Logistics of Breeding Season
While some of our ewes are in the midst of lambing, others are finishing up breeding season. Second only to lambs hitting the ground, this is the most exciting time on the farm for me! It’s the promise of what is to come paired with the anticipation of having to wait five long months for those babies to get here. It’s also the confirmation of a productive ram and eager mamas. And even though it happens every year, it always feels like a new beginning.
There’s a lot that goes into breeding, both before and after it actually happens. Let me break down how we like to do things!
Before:
When a ram is breeding, he is breeding. He’s 100% focused on getting the job done. And hey, that’s fantastic for production purposes, but it does take his attention away from grazing and eating. Therefore, you will generally see some weight loss in your ram while breeding.
Prior to and following each breeding season, we increase feed rations for each of our rams. This helps to prepare him for the time-consuming work of chasing the ladies (because that’s quite literally what he does all day). He gets plenty of exercise in this short period. So, on the flip side, after he is finished, we like to build that body condition score back up by giving him plenty to munch on during his time off.
We keep our rams separated from our ewes for most of the year. That (1) helps us to ensure our ewes are being bred and lambing around the same time and (2) creates some excitement and tension with the rams, which makes them more eager to breed.
When it’s time to add the rams in with the flock, we like to use marking harnesses. The harness, which holds a large “crayon” on the ram’s chest, allows him to “mark” a ewe when he breeds her. For example, if we have a red marking crayon on our breeding ram, we need only to look for red butts in the field to know who has been bred.
During:
Every day, we search the group to see who is newly marked. Sheep gestation ranges from 142-152 days, so, thankfully, this allows us to have an estimated due date for each ewe. I can’t emphasize how helpful this is once lambing season comes around. Instead of being in a paranoid frenzy (hi I’m Katie) about when a sheep is going to lamb and if she needs help, you have a general idea of when to keep an eye on her.
Sheep come into heat every 17 days, lasting approximately a day and a half. We like to leave a ram in for 35ish days (two complete cycles) to ensure that he has two chances to breed each ewe. If he happened to miss someone or a ewe did not cycle for some reason, this gives him a second chance.
In addition, after those 35 days have passed and we pull our ram, we send in a “cleanup ram”. This guy is our last safety net to “cleanup” any ewes that our main breeder missed. His harness will hold a different colored crayon so that we are certain who has fathered every lamb.
After:
Once the boys have had their five minutes of fame for the year, they go back to living in their own pasture. And, as I said, we work on getting them back to their normal weight.
Using the notes I took each day during breeding season, I like to sit down with a calendar and write down when everyone is due. I’m a pen and paper girl, but it is also just fun to see a countdown to lambing right on our fridge.
Now we wait!
