Rams didn't work

mallethead

Just wondering what do people think
the boss bought two sulfolk rams in the local mart and let them out with his chevoit ewes last october he also let out two chevoit rams as well
they all seemed fine and were working away
We have loads of chevoit lambs nearly a 100 at this stage ,but only 3 black lambs
I have someone coming to do a fertility test next week on both sulfolk rams
Will i get my money back if they prove infertile or is it too long since i bought them

rancher

mallethead wrote: »

Just wondering what do people think
the boss bought two sulfolk rams in the local mart and let them out with his chevoit ewes last october he also let out two chevoit rams as well
they all seemed fine and were working away
We have loads of chevoit lambs nearly a 100 at this stage ,but only 3 black lambs
I have someone coming to do a fertility test next week on both sulfolk rams
Will i get my money back if they prove infertile or is it too long since i bought them

You might just have very aggressive cheviot rams.
If we have a complaint from a customer, we get the ram tested ourselves and if he's not working we just give the money back.
The test is more accurate if you do it nearer the season, say july/august some rams can test very poor out of season

mallethead

they were with ewes on there own before we let them out all together
one fellow was with 15 ewes and two had black lambs the rest went in lamb to the chevoit later on

Bleating Lamb

You may not have much come back as it is well out of season now and rams sperm count can vary throughout the year....also depends on who sold them....they may will say your a bit late coming back to them.....good luck with it.

MayoAreMagic

If you had 2 lambs then he isnt infertile. He is going to have a low count this time of the year anyway, so it will be hard to prove anything, plus it could be argued that there could have been a blast of cold weather or someting like that, that stopped him tipping - which can happen with suffolks, which means you will do well to get any money back if it pans out like that. In fairness, if it was you, would the thought that the guy just ran the rams and is looking for his money back once the job was done, be far from your mind? If you could prove he was infertile it would be different, but obviously he isnt.

Were they hoggets or aged rams? Sometimes hoggets can be a bit hit or miss, without actually having anything wrong with them.

eorna

similar problem here myself....anybody has a name and number for fertility testing rams?? and how much they charge...not looking for money back just would like to do them before next season to avoid fiascos .. thanks

rancher

eorna wrote: »

similar problem here myself....anybody has a name and number for fertility testing rams?? and how much they charge...not looking for money back just would like to do them before next season to avoid fiascos .. thanks

Don't know where you live but Donal Lynch in Tullamore tested one for us last year, think he does bulls as well....very good vet
Charged €50
Do them as near to the season as you can, a ram testing low fertility this time of the year really means nothing.
If we get a ram tested and he shows up low fertility or infertile, we refund the money......doesn't matter if he has lambs on the ground

Conmaicne Mara

rancher wrote: »

If we get a ram tested and he shows up low fertility or infertile, we refund the money......doesn't matter if he has lambs on the ground

That's a good policy, builds confidence and strong repeat business.

Sheep breeder

For a pedigree ram to covered for fertility once he sires one lamb he is covered by law, as he is deemed to able and fertile to have got one lamb,
As for fertility testing is only an indicator of the fertility on the day of test as with in a couple of days the animal could be tested again and be infertile for a number of reasons.

rancher

Sheep breeder wrote: »

For a pedigree ram to covered for fertility once he sires one lamb he is covered by law, as he is deemed to able and fertile to have got one lamb,
As for fertility testing is only an indicator of the fertility on the day of test as with in a couple of days the animal could be tested again and be infertile for a number of reasons.

There's a difference between law and justice, you have to be fair too

Sheep breeder

i agree with you rancher on that,in 20 years of breeding we have had two issues with rams, the first a lamb sold that had lost a testicle and only had one and we took him back and replaced him and a friend got him for a forty ewe flock and had him work for 4 seasons perfect, the next a guy who bought two rams and in the spring could not pick out the lambs and turned out 70% of the lambs were after our ram.
the problem we most seen is with the dealers rams in the mart sales, rams that are bought as used or culls and are fed to the last and appear back as breeding home bred rams in the breeding season in the autumn with clean ears tagged with the sellers tag and not the bought in tag.