# Lambs and Rams



## skeleroo (Mar 18, 2019)

I'm fairly new at this sheep thing. I've had my sheep for a little over a year now. Five katahdinish ewes and a blackbelly ram. Come January and February I got my first lambs. Twin ram lambs and three singleton ewe lambs.

My first ewe lamb that was born was born on New Years Eve. Tonight when I was penning them I ended up having to remove the big ram from the pen because he was going after her. He rammed her several times into the side of the barn and then tried to mount her. She ran around frantically as he chased her and continued to ram her. So I took him out and penned him separately. He can see the rest of his flock through the fence. 

Why is he doing this (other than the fact that hes turned into a super jerk lately)? What do I need to do? Is he going to hurt her? Is it possible hes trying to mate?

Help?


----------



## Baymule (Mar 18, 2019)

Yes he was trying to breed her. Separate your ram lambs no later than 3 months old, 2 months is better. Or get busy and castrate them, then you can leave them with the flock with no fear of them breeding the ewes or the ewe lambs. 

Most sheep breeders take the ram out before lambing. The ram will breed the ewes back and it can really drag a ewe down to be bred back to back.


----------



## skeleroo (Mar 19, 2019)

Baymule said:


> Yes he was trying to breed her. Separate your ram lambs no later than 3 months old, 2 months is better. Or get busy and castrate them, then you can leave them with the flock with no fear of them breeding the ewes or the ewe lambs.
> 
> Most sheep breeders take the ram out before lambing. The ram will breed the ewes back and it can really drag a ewe down to be bred back to back.



The ram lambs will be sold at 3 months but we are keeping the ewe lambs.

It was my yearling ram that was trying to breed the 3 month old ewe lamb.

The vet had told me they only cycle once a year and dont come into that cycle until at least 6 months old. Is this not the case?


----------



## Baymule (Mar 19, 2019)

Your vet is wrong, for these breeds. Maybe for some breeds of wool sheep he would be correct, but not hair sheep. Hair sheep cycle monthly. Hair sheep breed year around and are fertile at just a few months old. You must keep them separated. I sure wouldn't keep a yearling ram in with ewe lambs. That yearling ram is fully mature and raring to GO! LOL Good for you that you saw what he was doing and took him out.

Your vet may not be well versed in hair sheep. Mine isn't, but he is the best we got going, so we work together on things. At least he is willing to learn. LOL

Study this forum, reading past posts. There is probably as good of an education here as you will get anywhere. I decided on sheep long before we moved out of the center of our little town and I read everything on sheep I could find. Still, nothing beats real life experience. We have had our sheep, just completed our 4th lambing, so haven't had them but less than 4 years. ( We bought 4 bred ewe initially) Read past posts, there is a lot of information in the forum, real life failures and successes. It gives you an opportunity to learn from what other people have done.

Don't be shy about asking questions, there are lots of friendly, helpful people here.


----------



## Dale HWA (Mar 24, 2019)

Also, with my Hair sheep (dorper) they stop cycling while nursing. So I leave my ram in until I have a ram lamb that I need to wean. It promotes the 2 males to bond, and causes less issues when i separate them out from the females, they don't get so lonely and area already used to each other.


----------



## Baymule (Mar 24, 2019)

Dale HWA said:


> Also, with my Hair sheep (dorper) they stop cycling while nursing. So I leave my ram in until I have a ram lamb that I need to wean. It promotes the 2 males to bond, and causes less issues when i separate them out from the females, they don't get so lonely and area already used to each other.



At what age do you wean the ram lambs? And phooey on that not cycling and nursing stuff (I really wanted to say crap, but I'm trying to be nice here)  I left my ram in too long (3 months)  I think it was on my second lambing and got a surprise lamb. I learned my lesson and take him out MUCH sooner, like when I know the girls have been bred. 

I like the idea of leaving the ram in to get acquainted with the new ram lamb so they can get acquainted before separating them from the ewes. I just don't know  how that would work when you have to wean the humping little scamps so early to keep them from hooking up  with a cougar ewe looking for a young hunk.


----------



## Dale HWA (Mar 24, 2019)

Baymule said:


> At what age do you wean the ram lambs? And phooey on that not cycling and nursing stuff (I really wanted to say crap, but I'm trying to be nice here)  I left my ram in too long (3 months)  I think it was on my second lambing and got a surprise lamb. I learned my lesson and take him out MUCH sooner, like when I know the girls have been bred.
> 
> I like the idea of leaving the ram in to get acquainted with the new ram lamb so they can get acquainted before separating them from the ewes. I just don't know  how that would work when you have to wean the humping little scamps so early to keep them from hooking up  with a cougar ewe looking for a young hunk.



I separate at 60 days, i have another small pasture that can sustain 2 sheep full time so I'll put my ram lamb and my main guy in there in about 3 weeks. Im looking to grow my flock substainitally right now so as much as i dont want a surprise lamb (and i know its not the best for the sheep) it would still be kinda fun hehe


----------



## Baymule (Mar 24, 2019)

A surprise lamb might be fun for you, but hard on the ewe to breed back so quickly. 60 days is a good time to separate.


----------



## shp123 (Mar 27, 2019)

skeleroo said:


> I'm fairly new at this sheep thing. I've had my sheep for a little over a year now. Five katahdinish ewes and a blackbelly ram. Come January and February I got my first lambs. Twin ram lambs and three singleton ewe lambs.
> 
> My first ewe lamb that was born was born on New Years Eve. Tonight when I was penning them I ended up having to remove the big ram from the pen because he was going after her. He rammed her several times into the side of the barn and then tried to mount her. She ran around frantically as he chased her and continued to ram her. So I took him out and penned him separately. He can see the rest of his flock through the fence.
> 
> ...


Hi, we are new as well. We have 3 female lambs born in late January to early February timeframe.  I was advised by someone in this forum to separate the ram asap.  In addition to preventing the lambs getting impregnated, you would also want to give the new moms sometime to nurse their babies and get back to health.  So, it took us the whole weekend to fence off a paddock for him and like you, he can see through the fence to the ewes but he had not challenged the fence so far.  The Plan is to separate him until the fall when his service I see needed .   We also want to separate the lambs and not to bred them during the first year.
Hope this help.


----------

