# Busy day with lambing



## puredelite (Mar 30, 2011)

Yesterday was a very busy day as my ewes starting lambing. Had put my ram with them the first of Nov. as I thought to try for warmer temps for birthing( April) Anyway I woke to about 3 in. of new snow( wouldn't you know it!) and went out to the barn to find 3 ewes had already given birth. Two singles and one twin birth. Later that afternoon had another ewe give me triplets. Now the weird part. The ewe that had the twins that mornin' I had put in a stall with her babies and went to check on her later that afternoon. Noticed she was straining and in the dim light thought that she was prolapsing so went back to the house to get my vet stuff to deal with it. Got back to the barn and she had birthed THREE more lambs. Two were stillborn but the other was very much alive. Never before have I had a ewe that produced a litter of five! In fact this was this ewes third or fourth lambing and all previous were single births. My sheep are pb Katahdins, pb Dorpers and crosses of the two. My ram was a K/D cross and unfortunately I lost him this past winter when he ventured out on the ice on my pond and hit a thin spot and drowned. Apparently he had a great gene for multiple births. I will pick out one of his sons for this falls breeding. I still have approx. 15 more ewes to lamb so maybe more litters... I really just prefer twins!! BTW, all babies are so far doing great.


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## theawesomefowl (Mar 30, 2011)

Wow! I sure hope the ewe lambs I'm getting produce as well!


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## patandchickens (Mar 30, 2011)

Great! Sorry you lost two but five, gee, that can't have been much fun for the ewe.

Mine went out with the ram the same day as yours, hope mine pop soon too! (not so much because I'm getting tired of going out at 2 a.m., although that too, as because I just want to know how it's going to turn out )

Post pics when you get a chance,

Pat


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## Bossroo (Mar 30, 2011)

It is the ewe that determines the number of lambs born per cycle.  Depends on the number of egg cells that she ovulates during that estrous. The ram will contribute 2.5-3 million sperm cells per each breeding. To select for higher birth numbers per ewe in a flock, I would select replacement ewes and rams from ewes that consistantly produce twins with high weaning weights per lamb ( milking ability of ewe) at 5 months of age and is of high quality in conformation.


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## patandchickens (Mar 30, 2011)

Although the ram's fertility does have a *bit* to do with multiples vs singletons. So, pick a ram with big 'nads.


Pat, who was born enough of a suburban gal that she still snickers when she sees livestock judges heading back there with a tape measure at shows


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## Bossroo (Mar 30, 2011)

Picking a ram with the biggest 'nads is more advisable for the wool breeds . There are many that have their 'nads so low as to be about 1" off the ground to keep the testicles more cool. As such, they are prone to have foxtails attach to that wool, then migrate into the testicles causing them much discumfort and therby not want to breed.   Purebred Suffolks have hair instead of wool over their strotums so the testicles rarely grow below the hock.  The Suffolks are the breed of choice of range sired crossbred lambs and are stocked at about 1 ram per 30+ ewes and they manage to settle almost all of the ewes.  At UCD, I have collected semen from several hundred rams of many different breeds by electroejaculation and found the sperm count varied only slightly between the huge testicles of the wool breeds and the Suffolk's of up to 1/3 the size.  Deformed sperm tails cause the sperm to  swim in circles vs. normal tailed sperm cells that  swim upstream fast. Numbers of normal sperm motility and their speed is most important. Millions are produced but it takes only one to fertilize one egg to produce a lamb. Survival of the fittest !  Immagine the Boston Marathon race... thausands start the race, but there is only one winner.


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