This year we may be light on lambs, or swimming in them. We usually put breeding groups together at the end of November, beginning of December. This year as we were plotting who should go with whom to try for which genetic traits, which possible fleece colour outcomes, we stopped and too a good hard look at a couple of our girls - they seemed a big too large for this time of year. My son described one of our older ewes as looking a bit like an eggplant, and indeed, she does. We now suspect (and it is just that as we cannot afford ultrasounds for sheep) that possibly four or five of our girls might be pregnant.
How does this happen when we keep the rams and the ewes in separate enclosures, you ask? Well...we may have left the ram lambs in with the ewe lambs a bit too long...maybe. Rather than forcing weaning, we have always let the ewes wean the lambs. They do a pretty good job of letting the babies know when enough is enough. However, we may not have gotten the message. Finn rams are sexually mature at 4 - 8 months. It is very possible we had an early bloomer or two, and now may have lambs in February! These will be wonderful as a spinner's flock, to increase the prolificacy of a flock, but we will not be able to register them as we have no idea who the sire is.
sigh. It has been that kind of a sheep year, so why not have one more lesson learned before the year's end? Soooo, yesterday we put the one white ewe with the best fleece together with our older white ram, and we are hoping for a May lambing from her. We may put our light brown ewe together with a young light brown piebald ram to try to continue that colour in the flock. Beyond that - we may be done. Keep ya posted about the others!
How does this happen when we keep the rams and the ewes in separate enclosures, you ask? Well...we may have left the ram lambs in with the ewe lambs a bit too long...maybe. Rather than forcing weaning, we have always let the ewes wean the lambs. They do a pretty good job of letting the babies know when enough is enough. However, we may not have gotten the message. Finn rams are sexually mature at 4 - 8 months. It is very possible we had an early bloomer or two, and now may have lambs in February! These will be wonderful as a spinner's flock, to increase the prolificacy of a flock, but we will not be able to register them as we have no idea who the sire is.
sigh. It has been that kind of a sheep year, so why not have one more lesson learned before the year's end? Soooo, yesterday we put the one white ewe with the best fleece together with our older white ram, and we are hoping for a May lambing from her. We may put our light brown ewe together with a young light brown piebald ram to try to continue that colour in the flock. Beyond that - we may be done. Keep ya posted about the others!
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