Although I only breed my ewes once a year, I break the girls into two
separate breeding groups. This allows me to use a different ram with
each group. I breed Group 1 in November (to lamb in April) and Group
2 in May (to lamb in October). I keep the rams separate from the ewes
except for the 35 days that the ram is introduced for breeding. By
using two rams, I'm able to build starter flocks with the ewe lambs
and an unrelated ram lamb. By lambing in Spring and late Fall, I'm
able to have freezer lamb available for my customers more frequently.
Also, having two groups of lambs spaced 6 months apart reduces the
number of mouths that my pasture needs to feed at any one time and
helps me rotate the animals on it better to keep it from being grazed
down too fast.
When I first started 16 years ago, I needed to make as many lambs as
possible to help restore the Barbados Blackbelly breed's critically
low numbers. I used an accelerated breeding program in those days
that yielded three lambings in 18 months. You can see an Accelerated
Breeding Schedule here:
http://critterhaven.biz/info/articles/breedingschedule.htm I don't
recommend this for long-term use because it is very hard on the ewes.
But none of my ewes suffered from the couple of years I subjected them to it.
Carol
At 11:16 AM 4/7/2014, you wrote:
I'm curious what is everyone's breeding schedule? Do you only breed once a
year or do you try and get more lambing's from your ewes? (Lets assume your
ewes condition is good) Just curious the pro's and con's to both ways.
Carol Elkins
Critterhaven--Registered Barbados Blackbelly Hair Sheep
(no shear, no dock, no fuss)
Pueblo, Colorado
http://www.critterhaven.biz
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