Telling the age of ewes by their teeth!

DJ98

How so you know I only know full and broken mouth! At least I think i do!

MayoAreMagic

Broken mouth is ewe missing permanent front teeth, and a ewe that has lost all her front teeth will do better than one with a few gone and a few long loose ones left in. Obviously a ewe that keeps them all will do best. Ewes shouldn't be losing their teeth until they are pushing double figures to be honest.

Generally 1 year old will have 2 teeth. 2 will have 4, and on and on, although you see the odd 1 year old put up 4 teeth before they are 2 etc.

jmrc

full mouth is generally 4 years old.
side teeth generally go first, more hardship more teeth lost.
a bit breed dependent too. hill ewes tent to keep them for longer AFAICR.

ganmo

broken mouth to me means any kind of not proper teeth/mouth
eg overshot/long teeth, crooked, undershot or missing teeth

MayoAreMagic

jmrc wrote: »

full mouth is generally 4 years old.
side teeth generally go first, more hardship more teeth lost.
a bit breed dependent too. hill ewes tent to keep them for longer AFAICR.

Wouldn't agree on the part about breed dependence, it is more down to generations of not concentrating on teeth in breeding stock etc.
In mountain breeds, animals that are showing signs of losing their teeth are sold off asap, as broken mouthed mountain ewes are not worth very much, so teeth become important. Naturally, the ones that last longest in the flock (and therefore breed the most) are the ones that keep their teeth the longest. There are young mountain rams with poor teeth - like any breed, but they just don't get put with ewes and are rarely bought to breed from.

ganmo

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

Wouldn't agree on the part about breed dependence, it is more down to generations of not concentrating on teeth in breeding stock etc.
In mountain breeds, animals that are showing signs of losing their teeth are sold off asap, as broken mouthed mountain ewes are not worth very much, so teeth become important. Naturally, the ones that last longest in the flock (and therefore breed the most) are the ones that keep their teeth the longest. There are young mountain rams with poor teeth - like any breed, but they just don't get put with ewes and are rarely bought to breed from.

its only breed dependant because the longevity isn't as important to some breeds as it is in the mountain breeds.

jmrc

broken mouth equals kabab shop...!

MayoAreMagic

ganmo wrote: »

its only breed dependant because the longevity isn't as important to some breeds as it is in the mountain breeds.

But surely that is breeding focus, rather than actual dependence on the breed?

Like Texels don't have bad teeth the same way horn ewes have horns...

ganmo

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

But surely that is breeding focus, rather than actual dependence on the breed?

Like Texels don't have bad teeth the same way horn ewes have horns...

but for most non mountain breeds teeth persistence is further down the list of priorities than head shape, colour and performance traits.

a stock judge always looks at the teeth of the sheep that he's looking at. if teeth is a top priority then no animal in a show ring will have a broken mouth but unfortunately that's not the case. the worst mouth I saw in a show ring didn't come last in the judging in that class as it should of

MayoAreMagic

ganmo wrote: »

but for most non mountain breeds teeth persistence is further down the list of priorities than head shape, colour and performance traits.

a stock judge always looks at the teeth of the sheep that he's looking at. if teeth is a top priority then no animal in a show ring will have a broken mouth but unfortunately that's not the case. the worst mouth I saw in a show ring didn't come last in the judging in that class as it should of

Agreed, but that is breeder dependant, not breed dependant. There could be, and indeed there are, non hill sheep with good mouths.

ganmo

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

Agreed, but that is breeder dependant, not breed dependant. There could be, and indeed there are, non hill sheep with good mouths.

too true.
there's something pleasing about checking an aged ewe's gob only to see it's perfect

greysides

http://www.infovets.com/books/smrm/C/C015.htm

grassroot1

Would grazing roots not also have an effect on teeth wear and tear. I though judges were only checking for undershot or overshot mouths at shows/sales