Sponging ewes

Mac Taylor

Second year back in sheep. Only planning on 30 ewes this time round. Small farm but good for cashflow when cash is tight:D

Anyway, in order to fit in with work, was thinking about sponging the ewes.

Does sponging suit all ewes regardless of age (have a mix of year & a halves all the way up up to 4th crop.
What's the process - Does vet do it or can I do it myself?
Will one ram suffice (was planning 2 groups of 15)
How much per ewe does it cost?
Does the process effect the longevity of the ewes

Sorry for all the questions:D
Thanks for all the replies:)

flatout11

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Second year back in sheep. Only planning on 30 ewes this time round. Small farm but good for cashflow when cash is tight:D

Anyway, in order to fit in with work, was thinking about sponging the ewes.

Does sponging suit all ewes regardless of age (have a mix of year & a halves all the way up up to 4th crop.
What's the process - Does vet do it or can I do it myself?
Will one ram suffice (was planning 2 groups of 15)
How much per ewe does it cost?
Does the process effect the longevity of the ewes

Sorry for all the questions:D
Thanks for all the replies:)

havnt done it for years but heres my thoughts on your questions,

id favour it with older ewes - better litter size and it will give the hoggets a chance to get a bit bigger (ie october mating)
you can put them in yourself - fairly straight forward
you would need the loan of a ram or 2,
a 1 to 8 ratio works or less works best, i used to go 1 to 10
dont know about current costs
and no it wont adversly affect ewe longevity,

but if your mating the end of this month do you really need to sponge?? the older ewes will have started cycling by then

hope this helps

Username John

Hello,

As per Flatout said above - not sure of the benefit of sponging? I thought it was mainly done for earlier lambing, where the ewes wouldn't be cycling naturally? Now - we never sponged here, so I might be well wrong to say that, and there maybe a huge range of benefits

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Anyway, in order to fit in with work, was thinking about sponging the ewes.

If its ensure as many of em lamb during your holidays as possible - I have the same issue... I usually book holidays starting the second week after I put the ram in, as usually only a few sheep lamb in the first week. This year, I only had one left to lamb after my holidays - and she didnt lamb til a week after

For this season, to help tighten them - I got a vasectomised ram, will put him in with the ewes 2 weeks before I put in the true ram. (When I got him last year, I had planned for an earlier lambing. But I have pushed the lambing back now - I am not sure he will do much in September)

Or you could put the ram in the other side of a (good) fence for 2 weeks before you put him in with the ewes. If I was you, this is prob what I'd do. Plus raddle the ram, change raddle regularly, record when the sheep go, so you will have a fairly good date for when they'll lamb...

But... given we are pushing on in the year, I would say the ewes should be cycling so not sure re sponging...
What breed do you have?
Is it only to tighten the lambing you would sponge them?