[blackbelly] miscellaneous

[Kerry & T J Dudley]

I agree with Carol and Julian about the timing for mating.  Letting the 
younger ewes age a bit, never hurts the birthing process.  Older females do 
better birthing and the same is true with sheep.  (12 y/o teens v/s 22 y/o 
woman.........)  Pelvis structure, etc have a chance to mature and develop 
without so many complications.  We aim for birthing in the cooler months, 
but have had two lamb crops in one year before (unintentional, but fences 
and RAM attitude can change that.

Often we are lambing from Nov-Jan.  We wean around 3 months unless the lambs 
are small such as in triplets and need the extra time.  Lunch and Dinner 
were two Rans we raised for the same purpose as their names.  We didn't tell 
them either!

Good luck and welcome aboard.

PS  We live in West Central Texas so climate has lots to do when you lamb as 
well as cycling of the ewes.  We have an old barn with no heat so they tough 
it out in the elements except for when they crowd in to the West end of the 
three sided facility.  We also have separate pens or traps for those we are 
weaning or feeding.   Kid  <><


Kerry  <><


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