Sheep are seasonal breeders; the shortening days are the trigger for the breeding season in sheep. Both rams and ewes are affected by this with rams showing little or no interest in the ewes, and the ewes simply not cycling at all. The late spring and summer are the "deep anoestrus" period, the time of year when most sheep will not breed. There are exceptions however, so don't rely on it 100% to keep your ewes from being bred!

So, summer is moving along and we're starting to think about mating the ewes. When to put the ram out? That depends on a few things, including when you want lambs to be born, when you want the lambs ready for the freezer or the market, and of course on the fertility of both ewes and rams. The gestation period of a ewe is 147 days, plus or minus 5 days, so calculate first lambs 142 days from when the ram went with the ewes, and 152 days as the last possible lamb born. We use the calendar on the computer to send us a reminder 142 days after making an entry, or you can use a spreadsheet to put in today's date and calculate when to expect the lambs. There are also some calculators available on the web that do this, but it's quite simple really. Mostly it's about being reminded close to the time!

Most ewes will breed the first time the ram breeds them (he generally isn't interested if they are not on heat), but leave him with them for 2 cycles to be sure. A cycle is 17 days, so 35 days should pretty well cover 2 cycles for all the ewes. We talked about how to determine if they are returning to service in our blog post on readying the ram for breeding. If they are returning you need to determine if it's the ewe or the ram. Usually if it's more than 1 or 2 it's the ram. It's unusual for many ewes to return unless they are very thin or have been affected by something quite serious.

The ram can be easily forgotten if he's out in a back paddock with the old horse, or mowing the grass behind the sheds. It's a good idea to start taking a look at the old boy well before you plan to put him out with the ladies.

What are we looking for? Well, firstly make sure he's healthy and not carrying any injuries, eating well and in good body condition. Some rams will spend a lot of time courting and not eating once out with the ewes so having him in good body condition prior to mating will see him through getting the whole job done. I like to see them quite smooth on the backline with no backbone showing if he's shorn, or that you can't feel it if he's not. Don't worry, in 6 weeks time he won't look the same! Make sure his feet are good and he's walking well. It's hard to do the job if you can't get up on those two back legs. He should also be breathing easily, no snotty nose or rasping.

Next, make sure his breeding parts are in good order. Check the sheath to make sure it's not infected or inflamed. Palpate the testicles to ensure no swelling or tenderness. It's normal for the testicles to enlarge and hang lower during the breeding season, particularly on hotter days, but any swelling can be a sign of injury. If there has been injury to the testicles it can take several weeks for sperm to be viable again.

Breeding time has arrived and you're about to put the ram out with the ewes. Have you thought about using a ram harness? At Streamland Suffolks we use ram harnesses on all our rams so that we can see which ewes have been serviced and when. Changing the ram and the colour on the harness is also a good idea if you want to know how many have returned. You should have a very low return rate if your ram is doing the job and your ewes are healthy. A high return rate would suggest there is a problem with the first service ram. If you only have one ram, change the harness colour anyway so you can see if there are any returns. If there are many or all returning, it's probably not too late to get another ram. Better than missing an entire year! If you only have a small number of ewes you can record their numbers and when they were mated and work out when to expect the lambs.

147 days later, plus or minus 5, brings the most exciting time of the year on the farm. The anticipation of who will produce what lambs! Oh and did I mention the ram is half the flock?

Yes, absolutely! 

When lambs are born they are extremely vulnerable to the elements, particularly wetness or wind. They can cool down very quickly, lose their mobility and not get that all important first suck of milk, and before you know it ... a year's effort wasted (for that ewe anyway).

A good mother will turn, get up and lick her lamb, gurgling and talking while she is licking. Licking stimulates blood flow and the talking stimulates a response from the lamb. The lamb will try to get up and reach the teats for a suck. Good mothers almost seem to encourage this! 

The earlier lambs suck the better chance of survival they have. This is especially true with twins where there is a time the first lamb is on it's own while the ewe is having the second lamb. Good mothers don't ignore their first lamb during the process, continuing to talk and reach out to it while lambing the second lamb. However if the first lamb has already had a drink it's in good stead while waiting for it's sibling to be born.

Good mothers also stay close to their lambs and the place they lambed at for longer. There is research that shows this results in higher lamb survival. Ewes that talk to their lambs, stay close, and get them fed are less likely to lose sight of their lambs, or to have their lambs walk off in search of a mother.

So yes, absolutely, good mothering makes a big difference.

Does the ram make a difference how many twins and triplets he produces? Well, not really. Rams produce 100's of 1000's of sperm, more than enough to produce sextuplets every time, but they don't because it's not up to them.

Twins, triplets or quads are generally the result of multiple ovulation by the ewe. Some ewes produce more than one egg each time they come into heat, and if these make it to term the result is twins, triplets or more. Some breeds are more "prolific" (produce more offspring per ewe) than others, and this trait can be selected and improved by keeping the offspring of ewes that produce twins or triplets.

What role does the ram play? As we've said before, the ram provides 1/2 of the genetics to each lamb. If the ram has twinning in his pedigree, that is if his mother produced many sets of twins or triplets, his father's mother produced twins or triplets, and so on, then chances are very high that his female offspring will also produce twins or triplets. Since rams don't ovulate (produce eggs), we can't measure directly their twinning capability like we can in the ewes where we can see and count how many lambs they produced. So in rams we have to look at their female relatives to make inferences about their genetics for twinning.

If you want to produce twins, you need to keep the female offspring from ewes and rams that have twinning in their pedigrees, and in the case of the ewe that she produced twins regularly.

Another good indicator of twinning potential is early fertility. If a ewe produces her first lamb or lambs when she is a yearling, she is demonstrating early fertility. Many of these will go on to produce twins as 2 or 3 year olds and older. If a ram is born as a single to a ewe lamb, look at her mother to see if she has twinning in her performance history. Also ask about the ram's sire's mother to see if she has twinning in her records.

The old saying "you get what you pay for" is certainly true when it comes to rams. Sure, sometimes you can get lucky and pick up a bargain but most of the time if you buy a ram from the saleyards you're buying someone else's rubbish or problems.

The "ram is half the flock" - and this saying is absolutely true. Every lamb gets half of it's genetics from the ram, so it should be at least as good as the ewes and preferably much better. Why? Because to find one good ram is much easier than to find a whole flock of good ewes! Think of it this way; if you have 100 ewes and 100 rams to choose 60 ewes and 2 rams, you'll have to pick at least 10 ewes that are below average but you can get 2 of the best rams!

You can improve your flock by buying good rams that are much better than your ewes and keeping their female offspring as future breeding ewes. If the rams are not much chop the ewes they produce won't be much chop either. Then what?

So get a good ram and you'll produce good lambs, whether it be for eating or breeding. The qualities of a ram for those purposes might differ, but either way it should be a well-bred ram produced by a reputable breeder that backs their claims up with data and pedigrees. 

Welcome to our new series of short but informative notes about sheep, sheep breeding and our breeding program. If you can't find your question answered somewhere here, please ask and we'll do our best to write something helpful.