Trouble Lambing

OneMan37

Is it advisable to cull a ewe that had a hard lambing, like a ewe that needed assistance ? Is this a repeatable trait, will she have the same problem next year ?

Siamsa Sessions

OneMan37 wrote: »

Is it advisable to cull a ewe that had a hard lambing, like a ewe that needed assistance ? Is this a repeatable trait, will she have the same problem next year ?

Hard to know - will she get the same ram next year? Will she get the same diet? What will the weather be like? What condition will she be in when the ram is left out? Is this her first lambing?

If she's small and has a narrow pelvis then she might well need help every year. Or it might be a once-off if you used a Suffolk/Texel ram.

It comes down to how hard your culling is. Some lads would cull any problem ewe fairly fast but others might give her a second chance.

J.O. Farmer

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Hard to know - will she get the same ram next year? Will she get the same diet? What will the weather be like? What condition will she be in when the ram is left out? Is this her first lambing?

If she's small and has a narrow pelvis then she might well need help every year. Or it might be a once-off if you used a Suffolk/Texel ram.

It comes down to how hard your culling is. Some lads would cull any problem ewe fairly fast but others might give her a second chance.

It might also depend on what the problem was. If it was the way the lamb presented like foot back or backwards this could happen any ewe any year and not likely to happen next year.

arctictree

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

It might also depend on what the problem was. If it was the way the lamb presented like foot back or backwards this could happen any ewe any year and not likely to happen next year.

This. I don't cull for bad presentation as generally it's different the next year.

joe35

I'd give her a 'yellow' card. Take a knick out of her ear, or a tag in. If she gives trouble again then cull

Siamsa Sessions

arctictree wrote: »

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

It might also depend on what the problem was. If it was the way the lamb presented like foot back or backwards this could happen any ewe any year and not likely to happen next year.

This. I don't cull for bad presentation as generally it's different the next year.

100% agree. Sorry if I made it sound complicated - I assumed it wasn’t just a poor presentation

charolais0153

Ye must have savage sort of replacement rates if culling for little things like that

J.O. Farmer

charolais0153 wrote: »

Ye must have savage sort of replacement rates if culling for little things like that

I think everyone is saying not to cull for that.

Hard lambings tend to be either bad presentation or a big single lamb neither of which I'd cull for.

charolais0153

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

I think everyone is saying not to cull for that.

Hard lambings tend to be either bad presentation or a big single lamb neither of which I'd cull for.

A ewe that needed assistance? Majority of sheep would have a lamb pulled just for sakes of convenience here. Some ewes would lick the firat lamb and let him suck before having the second and could reject one when one is wet and the other dry. On slats here so dont want too many lambing themselves on dirtu alats for fear of joint ill

J.O. Farmer

charolais0153 wrote: »

A ewe that needed assistance? Majority of sheep would have a lamb pulled just for sakes of convenience here. Some ewes would lick the firat lamb and let him suck before having the second and could reject one when one is wet and the other dry. On slats here so dont want too many lambing themselves on dirtu alats for fear of joint ill

I think your reading the posts wrong. Trouble lambing would be way way down the list of reasons to cull. I wouldn't even take note of which ewes need assistance unless it was something really remarkable.

stantheman1979

charolais0153 wrote: »

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

I think everyone is saying not to cull for that.

Hard lambings tend to be either bad presentation or a big single lamb neither of which I'd cull for.

A ewe that needed assistance? Majority of sheep would have a lamb pulled just for sakes of convenience here. Some ewes would lick the firat lamb and let him suck before having the second and could reject one when one is wet and the other dry. On slats here so dont want too many lambing themselves on dirtu alats for fear of joint ill

Same here on mesh slats so I’d whip them out if she was taking too long. I’ve lost lambs on the slats before find them wicked cold sometimes.