From sponging to lambing

murrak123

For all those who have sponged their ewes in the past how long from tupping or date of ai until the first lamb dropped.
Is there any truth that sponged ewes drop lambs a week earlier.
What sort lambing spread did you have? Ie from first to last lambing.

manno

I think I had a few from day 142, started in ernest day 146

manno

The number of repeats will depend on ratio of ewes to rams. I usually had 2/3 in the first week and 1/3 17 days later. That was at about 9 to 1

Buford T. Justice XIX

murrak123 wrote: »

For all those who have sponged their ewes in the past how long from tupping or date of ai until the first lamb dropped.
Is there any truth that sponged ewes drop lambs a week earlier.
What sort lambing spread did you have? Ie from first to last lambing.

The lambing spread is about 7 days, 3.5 days either side of 147 days for the first round. The second round would be about 9 days , 4.5 days either side of 164 days. Twins and triplets would tend to come earlier and singles later than the 147. Quads earlier again, you would want to be avoiding those.

Cyclist101

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

The lambing spread is about 7 days, 3.5 days either side of 147 days for the first round. The second round would be about 9 days , 4.5 days either side of 164 days. Twins and triplets would tend to come earlier and singles later than the 147. Quads earlier again, you would want to be avoiding those.

If you shear them on housing, they carry the lambs for an extra day or two. Should also add that whilst Buford’s range is correct, you shouldn’t have too many on days 1-2 or 6-7 ie most of the action will be between days 3 and 5

foxirl

How many sponged ewes would a ram serve over a 2 day period if I was to hand mate them? ie let ewes in one by one.

wrangler

foxirl wrote: »

How many sponged ewes would a ram serve over a 2 day period if I was to hand mate them? ie let ewes in one by one.

We'd let 12 ewes into a pen with the ram and if a ewe gets served twice we take her out, I'm telling you this because some ewes won't stand until 6 or seven hours after the first one stands so if you were letting them in one by one, some of the ones you let in mightn't stand for ages....... it'd be a long day
I don't know how many a ram would serve in our case, we'd limit it to 12 or 14 because we'd be feed up watching them at that stage

foxirl

wrangler wrote: »

We'd let 12 ewes into a pen with the ram and if a ewe gets served twice we take her out, I'm telling you this because some ewes won't stand until 6 or seven hours after the first one stands so if you were letting them in one by one, some of the ones you let in mightn't stand for ages....... it'd be a long day
I don't know how many a ram would serve in our case, we'd limit it to 12 or 14 because we'd be feed up watching them at that stage

Thanks Wrangler. Only have 32 to serve. Will be mid October when doing it. So was thinking of pulling out the sponges over 2 days. Raddle him and leave in with 16 each day and pull out the ones served. Was wondering would 16 be too much for one ran in a day. Worse case scenario can get access to another ram if I have to.

Cyclist101

foxirl wrote: »

Thanks Wrangler. Only have 32 to serve. Will be mid October when doing it. So was thinking of pulling out the sponges over 2 days. Raddle him and leave in with 16 each day and pull out the ones served. Was wondering would 16 be too much for one ran in a day. Worse case scenario can get access to another ram if I have to.

You can take out sponges anytime between day 12 and day 14, if it’s a help. If it was me Id get the ram to serve over three days, giving him a day off between each ie serve on Mon, Wed and Fri, ewes in three groups of 10/11 and just move the ram around (no need to be on the lookout removing ewes after service)

stantheman1979

foxirl wrote: »

Thanks Wrangler. Only have 32 to serve. Will be mid October when doing it. So was thinking of pulling out the sponges over 2 days. Raddle him and leave in with 16 each day and pull out the ones served. Was wondering would 16 be too much for one ran in a day. Worse case scenario can get access to another ram if I have to.

What type of sheep are you sponging. Would they not be in season anyway in mid October without sponging

foxirl

stantheman1979 wrote: »

What type of sheep are you sponging. Would they not be in season anyway in mid October without sponging

Easycare, they'd be in season. But want to lamb down in the one week