Weight gain to expect for Ewe Lambs?

Vandy West

Have 60 mule ewe lambs that i hope to put to a llyen ram this year. Weighed them over the weekend, some seem a bit light to be bred this year, most are 35kg+, but a few are only about 30kg. Read in journal that ewe lambs should be about 60% of adult weight, so for mules 0.6*75 = 45 kg. Gave em some cobalt and dosed them two weeks ago, they are on a grass only diet and will give them some twin plus about a month before ram goes in with them.

Was assuming a weight gain of 1kg a week, and planning on putting in the ram about 1st week of november. Using 1kg a week weight gain, 40% would be 45kg by 1st november and 80% would be 45kg by 1st december.

Would i be better leaving the ram out until the 1st december? Also, will all the ewe lambs eventually come into heat over the winter or is it a case that if they aren't cycling by a certain date they won't cycle till next year?

Thanks for any advice.

brownswiss

Would you consider creep feeding them ? It might make more sense to feed them now rather than next spring. Grass is very wet and it is hard to imagine they will reach the required weight on grass alone

tabby aspreme

Don't know if meal feeding ewe lambs before putting to the ram is a good idea as I presume you will stop when the rams go out and this will lead to a drop in nutrition which may stop them cycling or cause them to reabsorb the lambs, some say if you shear them it gets them to grow quicker and its a big help at lambing time

Username John

Vandy West wrote: »

Have 60 mule ewe lambs that i hope to put to a llyen ram this year. Weighed them over the weekend, some seem a bit light to be bred this year, most are 35kg+, but a few are only about 30kg. Read in journal that ewe lambs should be about 60% of adult weight, so for mules 0.6*75 = 45 kg. Gave em some cobalt and dosed them two weeks ago, they are on a grass only diet and will give them some twin plus about a month before ram goes in with them.

Was assuming a weight gain of 1kg a week, and planning on putting in the ram about 1st week of november. Using 1kg a week weight gain, 40% would be 45kg by 1st november and 80% would be 45kg by 1st december.

Would i be better leaving the ram out until the 1st december? Also, will all the ewe lambs eventually come into heat over the winter or is it a case that if they aren't cycling by a certain date they won't cycle till next year?

Thanks for any advice.

Hi Vandy,
Whats "twin plus" ?

Vandy West

Username John wrote: »

Hi Vandy,
Whats "twin plus" ?

Its a multi-mineral supplement drench, cobalt + lots of other minerals. Costs about 75c a ewe, supposed to give them a bit of a boost (and hopefully a growth spurt) before tupping (and another dose before lambing).

I put out mineral bucket, but doesn't seem too be getting used too much, so thought this would make sure they are all getting what they need.

Vandy West

brownswiss wrote: »

Would you consider creep feeding them ? It might make more sense to feed them now rather than next spring. Grass is very wet and it is hard to imagine they will reach the required weight on grass alone

Don't know if meal feeding ewe lambs before putting to the ram is a good idea as I presume you will stop when the rams go out and this will lead to a drop in nutrition which may stop them cycling or cause them to reabsorb the lambs, some say if you shear them it gets them to grow quicker and its a big help at lambing time

Was trying to avoid feeding meal, but if i have only a few that aren't 45kg by december, maybe i could separate them (from the ram and heavier ewe lambs), feed them for a bit, then put the ram in with them separately (so i could keep feeding them when he is in with them).

Question is assuming mule ewe lambs don't start cycling until they are about the 45kg mark, would they start cycling in late december / early january?

brownswiss

Vandy West wrote: »

Its a multi-mineral supplement drench, cobalt + lots of other minerals. Costs about 75c a ewe, supposed to give them a bit of a boost (and hopefully a growth spurt) before tupping (and another dose before lambing).

I put out mineral bucket, but doesn't seem too be getting used too much, so thought this would make sure they are all getting what they need.

I think a lot of the Cobalt + mineral supplements are just Very expensive Cobalt drenches. Home made Cobalt drench is very cheap. If the bolus is effective it is probably the logical option as they are getting a little for a long time.
Would it be a problem to feed them including the ram until they are all in lamb. I think they will keep cycling until January but some of them are very light and may not cycle until next season...... just my thoughts

razor8

from my experience, if your mule ewe lambs are on very nice quality grass (preferably aftergrass) they could easily put on 1kg plus, ive seen some put on 3 and 4kgs a week but of course the weather was probably slightly better

eorna

have mine sheared, in good grass and bit of meal 0.2/0.3head/day..good few were on the light side (37-38kg) couple of weeks ago, haven't weigh them yet but they do look a bit better..i mate mine earlier (3 week oct)...the better they are going to the ram the better the chances of getting lambs out of them and becoming decent hoggets after that...anything too light/small i won't breed..