Now a real question for Sheepherder

[Zephyr]

What little knowledge I have of livestock type farms, they would breed for a spring birthing season so climate is not such a factor for the new borns.  

With yours birthing in the winter..., is that for

a) you just let them do their thing on their own time and you deal with it  

b) you purposefully have a birthing season spread out to allow for steady supply of lambchops

c) your sheep are an amorous lot, and you can't stop them from 'gettin a little hay for their donkey' so to speak

4)  none of the above

V)  Mind your own damn business Zephyr

[jsharr]

Making Sheep Time?

[sheep_herder]

We are small, and thus do not have a good way to separate rams from ewes, so they are together year around.  This also spreads out lambing, so the birthing is not all concentrated in a short period of time. That intensity is hard on 2 old folks.  We have found over the years that lambing this time of the year works for our situation.  It is much better in the cold and dry conditions than in the wet wintery conditions that can occur in the spring.  I've mentioned before that spring weather can sometimes be more severe than winter weather in our area.  We also run breeds of sheep that produce vigorous lambs, and have ewes that are good mothers.  We also have buildings for the animals if needed.  Most of the new lambs are still in the barn with their moms. Yes, we have to check more frequently when it is bitter cold and still may lose a few, but we do our best. Not sure this answers your questions, but ask away.

[Zephyr]

Thank you..., it does make perfect sense.  I was just thinking about that last night when talking to my daughter last night about them getting their little farm set up, and she was talking about birthing and when to breed/not breed.

[Ralphie]

So do you separate the rams and ewes and shoot for winter to stay oot of mud season?  Or do you just keep them together all the time and have the lambs in all seasons?  I guess you mean the latter?

[sheep_herder]

1 hour ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

So do you separate the rams and ewes and shoot for winter to stay oot of mud season?  Or do you just keep them together all the time and have the lambs in all seasons?  I guess you mean the latter?

They are seasonal breeders, and begin when the nights begin to get cool in summer months.  Have only a few lambs born in the late spring and summer, and these are normally a result of a ewe losing her lamb and is rebred in the winter. Most lambing is through by the end of March.

[Ralphie]

Thanks!

[Indy]

When I was raising hogs, winter was far better for having babies than summer.  Summer you have to worry about heat and the mother getting to hot, it's far easier to heat a barn than cool it.  Of course while we were big enough to separate out hogs and control it, my father didn't so it wasn't really controlled.  Sometimes we were overflowing and setting up temporary farrowing pens and other times the farrowing house was nearly empty, strangely it always seemed ideal weather it was more empty and when you wanted it emptier is when you were doing temporary setups.  

[Wilbur]

2 hours ago, jsharr said:

Making Sheep Time?

See, this why ewe and you must be separated.   

[Ralphie]

40 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

See, this why ewe and you must be separated.   

Ewe are getting rammy!

[Digital_photog]

4 hours ago, sheep_herder said:

We are small, and thus do not have a good way to separate rams from ewes, so they are together year around.  This also spreads out lambing, so the birthing is not all concentrated in a short period of time. That intensity is hard on 2 old folks.  We have found over the years that lambing this time of the year works for our situation.  It is much better in the cold and dry conditions than in the wet wintery conditions that can occur in the spring.  I've mentioned before that spring weather can sometimes be more severe than winter weather in our area.  We also run breeds of sheep that produce vigorous lambs, and have ewes that are good mothers.  We also have buildings for the animals if needed.  Most of the new lambs are still in the barn with their moms. Yes, we have to check more frequently when it is bitter cold and still may lose a few, but we do our best. Not sure this answers your questions, but ask away.

We do it a little different than a large operation like sheep herder.  Currently we have 3 pens, One for bred ewes. one for young ewes we didn't breed this year and one for the ram since we took him away from the ewes.  With only 3 bred ewes we hope they all come in a short period of time. I think we could even handle all 3 in one day. We have large calf hutches for housing,