Age of Ram Fertility

[CochinBrahmaLover=)]

I really don't think it was your ram lamb that got your ewe pregnant. Rams don't reach puberty until at LEAST four or five months old. They aren't like goats where they are known to breed at two months

But as for the lamb's size, it would naturally be small because of the ewe's age. If it was aborted three months early, it likely would've been a stillborn and be very tiny and have no wool on it whatsoever. However, because it was so fully developed, I think this lamb was a full-term baby (or close to it).

So I don't know. I think your sheep is weird to get pregnant right outta the blue like that

Have y'all ever considered there was no ram involved, period? Some types of animals can have young, with no males (when say males are short in abundance) . They are exact copies of their mother.

Now, call me crazy, but when my sister was studing zoo-olgy she learned bout it.

 

[BrownSheep]

In wethers in with your ewe earlier?Nsome that went to market maybe?

 

[kfacres]

I never seperate my ram lambs from my ewe lambs until I pull the ram lambs to turn in with ewes. In the last two years, I had a Sept Fall ewe lamb lamb in August at 11 months old, and a Dec. ewe lamb lamb in Dec at 12 months old. They, both times were bred by penmate, equal aged ram lambs.

4 months old is plenty old enough to accidentally breed a ewe lamb, happens all the time, all over. Heck, I pull my 5 month old ram lambs and turn them in with 12 or 15 ewes quite regularly.

Many years, ago, I had a May ram lamb, that I turned in with a ton of ewes for cleanup- and he ended up breeding almost all of them- which started lambing at the end of March, and finished in April (while the ram lamb was 10 and 11 months old). Those were some of my very best sale sheep that summer.

 

[boykin2010]

Is it possible she got pregnant then the lamb died close to birth. But she didn't actually have the Lamb until now even though it was dead? She basically held the lamb inside her since it wasnt growing anymore. Then being stressed started labor and she had the lamb.

That sounds confusing and very unlikely but I am just thinking outside the box.

 

[SheepGirl]

But the thing is the ram lamb wouldn't have even been born yet if the lamb born was full term. Even if it wasn't full term, the ram lamb would've still been less than four months old, and I've never heard of a ram that is less than four months old impregnating a ewe.

 

[bonbean01]

Reading this thread makes me so glad we moved our ram lamb to his new owners this past week...he was almost 4 months old and it would have been possible...did not want him breeding his mother or young sisters or any of them! Not so crazy about inbreeding and we have a super ram just for that purpose. Now I'm hoping we didn't wait too long!

 

[kfacres]

do you have goats?

 

[she-earl]

No goats. Only chickens in with the sheep.

 

[kfacres]

Well, I'm not going to call you a liar- but I'm betting something else is the culprit that you haven't told us about. I don't believe in divine intervention, sorry, or asexual reproduction in sheep.

Ever let those sheep leave the place, like to a fair?

What do you mean by< "around thanksgiving", do you have dates?

And most importantly, are you sure this ewe lambed?

 

[boykin2010]

Does anyone around you have sheep or goats that could have escaped and bred your ewe?