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.

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.