# Strange question...



## Shewolf (Jan 11, 2015)

I have an older ewe ( 8 or 9 yrs old) who is our herds matriarch and we would like to stop breeding her but cant separate her from the flock( her daughters  freak out bad! )  we can and do move out our ram but she is VERY fertile and is always the first one breed. we also feel she deserves a long and happy retirement.  Here is the strange question... Has any one ever heard of birth control for sheep?


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## purplequeenvt (Jan 11, 2015)

If she is healthy and successfully raises a lamb or two every year without trouble and keeps her weight on (or at least gains the weight back quickly after her lambs are weaned), then why not let her get bred?

Otherwise, get a companion for her and keep her separate during breeding season.


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## SheepGirl (Jan 11, 2015)

I have a 2006 ewe who will be 9 in May (she was my first sheep). She had triplets the past two years; I'm not sure what she will have this year. But, like your ewe, she is always the first one bred. It's been that way since she lambed for the first time! However, her daughters and the rest of the flock freak out too when she leaves... just the other day she went through the gate into the yard and EVERYBODY was screaming her heads off, pacing the fence, acting crazy... except for her, lol. She had her face buried in the green grass. She didn't care haha.

I don't plan on keeping her separate from the flock, and she can be bred as long as she's fertile and able to. She's a good mama, and she likes raising babies. Some ewes like raising babies, I'm sure yours does, too, and she will have a happy retirement bringing more babies into the world.


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## Shewolf (Jan 11, 2015)

Thanks both of you. I think you are right she would be unhappy not having babies and I am less worried after today. Her twins born today are a very good size unlike last years twins who were and still are small. guess we will let her keep going as long as she likes. my flock is the same as yours SheepGirl if shes out of sit all hell breaks loose!


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## goatboy1973 (Jan 11, 2015)

I have an 8 yr. old Nubian/ Spanish cross doe who I raised from a bottle. She has had 15 kids over her 8 yrs. on this earth. She is like a barn cat (she has been in some form of pregnancy since 9 months old). I tried to separate her from the rest of the herd and put her and newly weaned daughter in a lot by themselves. Well "Miracle" the 8 yr. old doe came into heat shortly after the great separation and would pace the fence screaming like the goat on the commercials. LOL!!! One day I heard her weanling doe squalling and looked in the pasture and Miracle had somehow got back in with the main herd and was in the process of being bred. She always has twins and raises them and weans them herself. I would like for her to retire from being a brood doe and just be a pet. So in short, I feel your pain.


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## Baymule (Jan 11, 2015)

Makes you wonder how they will handle it when your older ewes die. Not to be a downer here, but someday both of your mamma ewes will go to over the rainbow bridge and you might have to be grief counselors to your flocks.


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## Shewolf (Jan 11, 2015)

LOL Baymule yes I wonder that myself...


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## secuono (Jan 11, 2015)

I have two elder sheep I will be retiring after this lambing season in spring. One will be turning 13 and the other turning 10. I waited another year so that her friend could retire with her. 

Buy her a wether or castrate one of your ram lambs to make into her buddy.
They daughter sheep will get over it in a week or two. 

Or use marking harnesses and split her with 1 ewe away from the rest. Once the other ewes have been bred, swap out the ewe that hasn't for one that has. Once that one is bred, you can put the girls back together and separate the ram. But even the ram would enjoy a friend. Don't have a wether? Or do you rent or buy and then sell the ram as needed?


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## Sheepshape (Jan 12, 2015)

Well, I tried to retire my old girl,Longface (probably 12 years old) last year.........put here in a field with lambs and barrens. She didn't take to the idea at all. A neighbour's ram must have paid her a brief call and she produced healthy triplets 2 months behind the main flock. She has produced at least 26 lambs since she started her long career (bought by us from a friend farmer 6 years ago as an 'old ewe with another year in her'......probably 6 plus years at the time).

Her udder has seen better days....only works on one side (the real reason for her retirement), and her milk dries at about 2 weeks,so one triplet taken to be bottle fed, two left with her who were bottle trained from birth,so feeding no problem.

The old girl lives to be a mum.....bossy, grumpy, headstrong,devoted......never happier than when she is nestled down with lambs.

This year she was allowed to stay with the main bunch and is expecting twins.

She cannot go on for ever, that I know. The strain of carrying twins may be too much for her, that I know. But this old girl has lived the happiest and most natural life a 'husbanded ewe' could have,at least since we have kept her. I don't think she would have had things any other way if she had had the choice.

If I think she is suffering at any stage, she will probably be euthanised (our vet would do this). Her mutton chops would probably break someone's teeth in any case!

She has been so happy for the time I have kept her, I would like her always to remain here and would like to bury her here if this is allowable.

I have 5 of her daughters in my little flock....and all show the same excellent mother traits.

I know some of you will think I am out of my mind.....but I'd let your old girl carry on doing what she does best SheepGirl. Review that decision annually, and , if you think she really has reached the end of her days, do what you feel to be right.


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## Shewolf (Jan 12, 2015)

Yes SheepShape your lady sounds just like my Sweetpea right down to how great her daughters are! 
"A week or two" Ha no they don't get over it they find a way to break out and find her! 
One other thing have any of you had a Ram who LOVES one ewe so much that we can NOT separate him from her? He will break anything and go through any elec fence to stay with her!


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## Baymule (Jan 12, 2015)

@Sheepshape you might want to check state laws for burying an euthanized animal on your land. Some places require them to be taken to the landfill. I can understand having a vet put her down, all those years, lambs and love you have for the ol' gal, that would probably stop me from doing the deed myself.

I had a mule colt die once, I laid him out in a pasture for a day. The horses stayed with him for almost the whole day. They sniffed him, and just stood there with him. When they wandered off, we buried him. His mother was the first to lose interest, no wonder, she rejected him at birth and he missed that 12 hour window to get colostrum. Witch.


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## Sheepshape (Jan 13, 2015)

Oh,Baymule.....that's bringing tears to my eyes. I think that sometimes the mothers know which ones aren't going to survive and reject their offspring for this reason. Others seem to be 'just not ready for motherhood'! I always leave a ewe with a lamb that is dead at birth or dies shortly thereafter. The ewe than knows her lamb is dead and is not furiously looking and calling for it. She paws the lamb to try to get it to move, licks,and then clearly goes into a grieving process. I move the lamb slowly outside the pen and cover it until the ewe starts to show signs of recovery, then take the lamb away.

We are supposed to have dead animals (so called 'fallen stock'....quaint terms used here in Wales) taken to be incinerated, which is normally what we do. However, my rose bed has a number of pets and chickens deep beneath it, including the 21 year old cat who we inherited as her third owners (came with the place!). The vet said she never wanted to leave our place , so she shouldn't have to in the end....so she is still here, and always will be.

Shewolf...with apologies for 'hijacking' your thread......


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