Early breeding/ewes that don’t take/hold.

[JoEwe]

What does everyone do with ewes that don’t cycle/hold after sponges/pmsg. Last year some didn’t cycle again probably for weeks. Wondered if there’s anyway to avoid this.

 

[neilo]

What does everyone do with ewes that don’t cycle/hold after sponges/pmsg. Last year some didn’t cycle again probably for weeks. Wondered if there’s anyway to avoid this.

Using teasers before sponging, to try and get more of them cycling naturally, will reduce the number that go anoestrus ime, and I expect using Regulin would have the same effect (£4/ewe now iirc)Unfortunately you will still get some if you artificially bringing them a long way forward from their natural breeding season.

In the past I have done an early scan for wet/drys, then given a shot of estrumate to any that hadn't cycled. Worked well but I doubt it's allowed now. I just give the early mob one chance of the ram now, then anything that doesn't take drops back into the March lambing group.

 

[andybk]

one reason we gave up sponging was they missed a cycle if they didnt hold first time ,which is at least a month later and can make lambing very protracted ,and i didnt like the fact i couldnt monitor natural prolificacy . most of my older charollais will lamb just before christmas naturally now (7th - 24th ) if i use a teaser (i give priority to keep any ewes that lamb early ) .regulin will work if we get a dark year (cloudy damp weather ) but not so good in a bright dry year , but they wont miss that cycle if they dont hold and should cycle normally after first one .

 

[Andrew1983]

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