Poll on lambing, kidding, calving, foaling, hatching, kindling.

[Nommie Bringeruvda Noms]

I prefer late spring/early summer, for our babies. With the Nigora goats, it's easier & cleaner to shear just before kidding, but I don't want to shear until the weather is steadily above 40 or so, and surely don't want to leave them unshorn into the full heat and humidity of our central Missouri summer.
With the chickens, hubs doesn't want any roos, so we order all females, in mid spring, when they're cheaper & least likely to die of exposure, because of temps dropping overnight. Or, at least that's the plan, for this year. Last year was our first, and we kept them in the living room, until I was satisfied that they were grown enough, and the run & henhouse were sufficiently as predator- resistant as I could humanly make them.

 

[wolf]

Can never judge the weather in Virgina Winters - some times snow and freezing rain - sometimes rather mild - and some Winters it's a roller coaster. I just don't wanna futz with lambs in freezing rain - so I remove the ram's johnson-shield for the week of Thanksgiving, and fhat's all the nookie he gets all year. That way any lambs that come will drop after the first day of Spring.

 

[Baymule]

Can never judge the weather in Virgina Winters - some times snow and freezing rain - sometimes rather mild - and some Winters it's a roller coaster. I just don't wanna futz with lambs in freezing rain - so I remove the ram's johnson-shield for the week of Thanksgiving, and fhat's all the nookie he gets all year. That way any lambs that come will drop after the first day of Spring.

Ram Johnson shield? I had to look it up.

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Does your ram run with the ewes all year, just wearing the shield? You only take it off for a week, do all your ewes get bred or are you ok with whatever ewes get bred?

I castrate all my ram lambs because I don't have enough pastures to keep them separated. The little stinkers get their noses all up in the ewes lady business at just a few weeks old! With this shield, I might get by with not having to castrate them. Supposedly, the rams grow bigger and better than wethers. I wouldn't know, never kept them as rams. You certainly gave me something to think about.

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

You didn't mention kindling, but I'm sure you mean rabbits too? I didn't complete your survey either. Just getting started with the rabbits, but intend for it to be pretty much year round, except last of July, first of August due to heat.
Chickens? No roosters here. I'll stick with getting day olds. Let someone else bother with incubation and broody hens. Day olds are just so inexpensive AND reliable. No waiting, hoping, candling, and ending up with all cockerals. And if one ends up a cockeral anyway, I get to bi!@# to the farmstore/breeder. Ditto with the ducks. Besides, Runner Ducks seldom go broody anyway.
Goats are coming in the spring. Wethers or nannies. I've seen the worry/aggravation folks go through at kidding here on BYH. NO THANK YOU! Just eat the brush, and then I eat you. Next year somebody will have replacements.
So. Piedmont area of SC. Mild climate. Extremes? Mid 20s Jan & Feb, lower 90s July & August. Pretty nice if I WANTED to breed....just not worth the pain, worry, and aggravation to me.
As a former boss told me when I tried to explain things. "I don't want to hear about the labor pains. I just want to kiss the baby".

Well, at least you’ve got it figured out!! Love your style

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

As for kindling...I avoid late summer and dead of winter..but start again like late Jane for Easter bunnies. Same with ducklings and chicks, we plan our hatches so the young ones will be ready around Easter. But...whenever people buy an animal from our farm..we tell them..if your child gets tired of this chick in a few weeks..you can bring it back...no questions asked. Then people don’t just abandon them, etc. we also hatched duck and chicks in the fall last year too. That was really nice and I like having my hens on a different laying schedule, for when they start to slow down in life. As for kidding...we were told that kids are hot sales this time of year around here...so, that’s why we bred in Sept. Well see how that goes. If it’s worth it..perhaps...if not..I think I’ll push-it back a few months..and, I might stagger the dates now that I have 8 goats!!

 

[Beekissed]

I belong to a sheep group on FB and there are lots of posts coming in right now about lambing....if I wanted to scare myself out of ever being a shepherd, those are the posts to read. Lots and lots of problems with keeping sheep nourished enough to lamb, then feed the lambs, then lambs needing to be kept warm and bottle fed because of rejection or the ewe having problems....it's a cautionary tale X a million on there.

And my question has still got to be...why in the world would anyone lamb in the winter when natural food is not available and the weather can kill newborn animals? Why complicate things so very much? How in the world can that be profitable to have to buy supplemental feed, lose lamb profits and even breeding stock to deaths that could have been avoided if the sheep had been out on clean soils in warmer weather, flushing themselves on spring grass and browse? Do folks just love the drama of it all? I don't think I could afford all that drama, both financially and emotionally, not to mention the loss in time wasted.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

I've always wondered this and why folks choose certain times of year to have babies on the farm. It helps if you describe the weather conditions you experience at that time of year.

does that really work? Can we just use the normal things that we can use for such conditions.

 

[rittert3]

I've bred, raised, worked with; alot of different animals for jobs and independently in alot of different settings. It all depends on the species, your setting or facility, and you priority niche. I could make a table but I see this thread is a couple years old.

 

[Daisy1702]

Our lambs come at the end of winter because a sheeps natural breeding cycle is in autumn so in australia lambs come around july august

 

[secuono]

Spring.
So they don't freeze & ground feeds them.

Was lambing as early as the last week in February, but moved to 2nd week of March this year. Still a bit cold, though. Thinking of moving to 3rd week in March for next year. Didn't use a clean-up ram last year, so no late lambs. But looks like I have to in order to catch the stragglers. Lambing that late is a fly issue.

Cattle will also be split to only calve in spring.

Rabbits mostly year round. They'll refuse in summer & worst of winter, though.