I am raising “commercial hair sheep”. That means mostly Katahdin mixed with Dorper and St. Croix and maybe some Barbados in there. My goal is to get a low-maintenance flock that almost entirely relies only on grass and forbs for sustenance.
Terminology
- Lamb: A baby sheep.
- Ewe: A female sheep.
- Ram: A male sheep that can breed.
- Wether: A castrated male sheep.
Current Stock
I currently have around 100 sheep.
Breeding Cycle
I breed my sheep every 8 months (243 days). I think this is optimum and minimizes the amount of work I need to do if I did annual breeding.
The target dates for lambing is April 15th, August 15th, and December 15th. In odd-numbered years, I’ll see lambs in August, and in even-numbered years, April and December.
Rams Put On
Rams are put on the flock around 150 days before the target lambing date, which is 90 after the last lambing started.
The newest ewe lambs are too young to breed. However, the ewe lambs from the previous lambing are 11 months old and will be 16 months old when they lamb, which is the ideal age.
Rams Pulled Off
130 days after the last lambing started, and 110 before the next lambing, the rams are pulled off.
Rams are kept on for 40 days. This is roughly 2 estrus cycles.
When the rams are pulled off, the ram lambs are removed as well. They will be 3-4 months old when weaned.
At this time, ewes are culled and sold.
Also, ram lambs from the previous lambing should all be sold by now.
Sales
Around 2 months before lambing, I’ll sell breeding ewes and starter flocks. The breeding ewes will include older ewes as well as younger ones that are about 14 months old.
Lambing
Lambs should start appearing around the target date, and by 40 days after should be all done.
Treatment Regime
Basically, if it’s not a top performing animal, I will cull it. I will label culled animals so they don’t get confused with breeding stock. I will target something like 10% culling every year, even if they are all top performers.
- No antibiotics. Sick animals are culled. They will be clearly labelled as such if sold.
- No dewormer. Wormy animals are culled. They will be clearly labelled as such if sold. Regular rotations should minimize the risk of worms.
- No vaccines.
- Any animals with hoof issues are culled. Temporary treatment may include copper sulfate solution. Again, they will be clearly labelled as such.
- Any other issues, such as not growing well, lambing, only giving singles after 3 lambings, etc… are all cause for culling.