Ewelambs

[mossy]

Just wondering would you recommend keeping ewelambs that were singles or only keep ones that were doubles,does the fact that they were singles mean they will only have singles or have no effect

 

[Woolless]

Just wondering would you recommend keeping ewelambs that were singles or only keep ones that were doubles,does the fact that they were singles mean they will only have singles or have no effect

Prolificacy is heritable but not strongly so. So there will be an effect but it certainly won't mean that those born as singles will go on just to have singles. They'll tend to be bigger, so more likely to lamb as a hogg anyway, if that's what you're aiming for.

 

[Al R]

Not much correlation, I only keep twin born ewe lambs and yet have only 1/3 scan as twins as ewe lambs. The last triplet ewe lamb I kept back had triplets as a ewe lamb, triplets as a yearling and triplets this year to. I’m glad I stopped keeping triplet born ewe lambs a few years ago!

 

[Guiggs]

I have kept single ewe lambs so far and I always tag them with an orange tag so I can keep an eye on them as they age
So far single born ewe lambs have lambed 50% twins and 50% singles however I don't no If it's a coincidence but they have had a far higher mortality/ cull rate..
I shall be keeping some singles this year but will start to phase out keeping them as flock numbers get nearer to where I want them to be.

 

[It was already broken.]

I have kept single ewe lambs so far and I always tag them with an orange tag so I can keep an eye on them as they age
So far single born ewe lambs have lambed 50% twins and 50% singles however I don't no If it's a coincidence but they have had a far higher mortality/ cull rate..
I shall be keeping some singles this year but will start to phase out keeping them as flock numbers get nearer to where I want them to be.

Thats very interesting @Guiggs and not something I had considered looking at. Other than the rate at which they died/culled compared with twin lambs was there more of one reason to cull etc, mastitis, fly, lame, empty?

 

[andybk]

more to the sheep job than numbers , lot of other factors affect what we keep , ie good maternal milky ewes , with good shape and structure , that said a ewe with two good ewe lambs that weans her own weight (80 - 100kg ) at weaning (100- 120 days ) , would get priority

 

[primmiemoo]

Own weight and greater gets greater priority.

There's always that odd one that's bred from the misalliance of a ewe in the cull group and a [__] unnoticed rig that slips through on every other criteria that ends up in the top flight, though.

 

[Guiggs]

Thats very interesting @Guiggs and not something I had considered looking at. Other than the rate at which they died/culled compared with twin lambs was there more of one reason to cull etc, mastitis, fly, lame, empty?

To be honest I couldn't say any one thing more than another has been responsible, it's just been typical sheep things... mastitis has claimed a couple, some have been culled due to not being able to keep reasonable condition/ have been very thin at weaning and not gained enough weight, suddenly being dead with no real symptoms of illness..
Like I say it might be coincidental but wondered if as a result of getting more milk and growing quicker they had more strain on or less developed organs or whatever.. I shall continue my little experiment and see if any patterns form!

 

[Razor8]

Not many singles to choose from here

Anyone else here of scan rates so high?

https://m.independent.ie/business/f...tLZpskv0ygW0cOkLCqF92v5jnC1PLD-umsmLasmzhZWns

 

[primmiemoo]

Did do, once upon a time. Absolutely fascinating lambing down 400 @ about 260% . Genuinely.

It made us decide to bring in a scanner after the third year, that's for sure, and we could have done with an automatic mixer feeder for the tame lambs, but managed perfectly well with the Shepherdess-type buckets.

Gradually reined back on the prolificacy side, and perfectly happy with every ewe rearing a double one way or another.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Did do, once upon a time. Absolutely fascinating lambing down 400 @ about 260% . Genuinely.

It made us decide to bring in a scanner after the third year, that's for sure, and we could have done with an automatic mixer feeder for the tame lambs, but managed perfectly well with the Shepherdess-type buckets.

Gradually reined back on the prolificacy side, and perfectly happy with every ewe rearing a double one way or another.

Did dream it or was there a clever kiwi lot who found a 'non triple gene' iyswim...

2 maximum and no singles either . .. ..perfic......

 

[primmiemoo]

Did dream it or was there a clever kiwi lot who found a 'non triple gene' iyswim...

2 maximum and no singles either . .. ..perfic......

No idea, sorry, but wouldn't it be useful!

 

[primmiemoo]

... useful, but bo-o-o-oring ...

 

[Ysgythan]

Did dream it or was there a clever kiwi lot who found a 'non triple gene' iyswim...

2 maximum and no singles either . .. ..perfic......

They’d found that in Llanwenog decades ago, eh @neilo

 

[Bury the Trash]

They’d found that in Llanwenog decades ago, eh @neilo

interesting.


all you need is the triple stopper then keep going for the pair every year...
well with maybe the only exception being as a ewe lamb.......

just then need them to shed and have a good meat yield … perfic….