David, I am paying $10.29 per 50 lb. bag of 14% all stock feed at Rural King. The price is a crime!
As for weaning, I wean at 3 months if I'm selling the lambs. If they're staying here longer, I take the ram lambs off at around 3 - 3.5 months. If there are a girl/boy twin set, I will often take the ram lamb off and leave the ewe lamb twin with the mother and never wean the girl. The mother naturally weans the ewe lamb twin herself at around 4 months. So the ewe lambs never really get separated unless they are being sold. It seems easier on the mothers and the ewe lambs to let them wean themselves. I put the ram lambs in a separate pasture and they never come back to the ewe pasture, except possibly later as an adult ram to breed part of the ewe group. If I have castrated ram lambs, I will sometimes keep those little wethers with their mothers like the ewe lambs. Usually however, I need to get the ram lambs out of the ewe group before I decide whether to castrate them. And yes, I would say about 2 months is the right time to keep lambs and mothers apart, if you have some reason to keep them apart. The lambs sometimes seem to want to go back to their mothers, even after that point, but it has never been a problem. If the ewes get pregnant again and they still have a 5 or 6 month old lamb hanging around, the mothers will make sure that the old lambs do not interfere with their new lamb births or nursing. Mary Swindell At 10:19 PM 4/18/2008, you wrote: >Message: 3 >Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:25:01 -0500 >From: "David Mansur" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [Blackbelly] Survey on Feed Costs and Weaning >To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info >Message-ID: > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > >With the higher fuel prices I've seen the price of feed jump a lot the >last 2-years and I wanted to take a survey of feed prices you're >seeing. > >What's the average price for feed in your area per pound for 12 - 14% >protein feed? >How is it purchased - In bulk or bag? > >Houston: >Bulk supplied feed, 12%, All-stock, is about $8.75 per 50 lbs ( $ 0.175/Lb) >50 lb bag, 14% show feed is at $10.25 ( $ 0.205/Lb) > > - - - - - - - - - - > >For those of you who wean your lambs . . . >How long do you keep lambs separated before you re-introduce them back >into the flock? 2 Months? > > >--David Mansur > > >------------------------------ _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
