Mixing Ram lambs with senior Rams

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

I would like to keep a fairly large group of ewes together ,but don't have enough older Rams to cover them all. I have some well grown Ram lambs available to me, is it ok to mix the Ram lambs and the old Rams together and put them in with the mob of ewes.

 

[Al R]

I ALWAYS have ram lambs in with older rams ( ram lambs that do eventually become mature rams later on in life mind)
I find ram lambs work twice as hard as mature and yearling rams and keep the older rams on their toes, also no issue with fighting as their half the weight.. if your raddling then their ideal as they have a lot of chest wool if they havnt been sheared.

I also sell rams, most people come just because the yearlings have served a lot of ewes the year before when they were ram lambs so they know exactly what’s happening.

Last year I put some 27 week old ram lambs which were a late maturing breed in with some dog training ewes as I had nothing else left and they served them all within the first week and all lambed within the first few days of lambing.

 

[Ysgythan]

Yes definitely. Did it for years before selling the main crossbred flock. Will be putting a mature ram and a lamb in to sweep the embryo recipients in a month’s time. Having a lamb in stops the older ram being mobbed because the ewes have been synchronised and tend to come on heat together.

 

[neilo]

I would like to keep a fairly large group of ewes together ,but don't have enough older Rams to cover them all. I have some well grown Ram lambs available to me, is it ok to mix the Ram lambs and the old Rams together and put them in with the mob of ewes.

My crossbred ewes get served by my Charollais ‘pedigree’ stock rams (3 yr olds this year) along with however many ram lambs I need to make up the numbers I think I may need. Never been a problem, but maybe it could be if you only run 1:30?

 

[Al R]

My crossbred ewes get served by my Charollais ‘pedigree’ stock rams (3 yr olds this year) along with however many ram lambs I need to make up the numbers I think I may need. Never been a problem, but maybe it could be if you only run 1:30?

1:50 with some of mine and not a problem? They do tend to forget to eat mind. I was watching a BFL ram lamb the other day run headlessly around a 4 acre field with 140 ewes in. The yearling and mature both had to keep up with him then to try and get first dibs before the ram lamb

 

[bobajob]

Would you leave the tup lamb in for less time.? Say take him out after a couple of weeks. Don't want to knacker the boy, and stop him growing into a good sized shearling.!
Must admit I nevert have much luck with tup lambs, they don't all gow out as I would like/ had them die in the past. Vow only to buy shearlings for a couple of years (till I inevitably see some decent cheap tup lambs at the market and buy one or two ?)

 

[Ysgythan]

Would you leave the tup lamb in for less time.? Say take him out after a couple of weeks. Don't want to knacker the boy, and stop him growing into a good sized shearling.!
Must admit I nevert have much luck with tup lambs, they don't all gow out as I would like/ had them die in the past. Vow only to buy shearlings for a couple of years (till I inevitably see some decent cheap tup lambs at the market and buy one or two ?)

Depends how long you tup over and when you pull your tups out (or off @Nithsdale Farmer ) If you put them in now and take them out at scanning I would make an effort to get the lambs out after a month.

 

[Nithsdale]

Depends how long you tup over and when you pull your tups out (or off @Nithsdale Farmer ) If you put them in now and take them out at scanning I would make an effort to get the lambs out after a month.

I'll be pulling them off soon

 

[Al R]

Would you leave the tup lamb in for less time.? Say take him out after a couple of weeks. Don't want to knacker the boy, and stop him growing into a good sized shearling.!
Must admit I nevert have much luck with tup lambs, they don't all gow out as I would like/ had them die in the past. Vow only to buy shearlings for a couple of years (till I inevitably see some decent cheap tup lambs at the market and buy one or two ?)

For as long as I remember the Charolais ram lambs Have had to serve ewes at 1:40 and then ewe lambs straight after at 1:30. Potential for some ram lambs to have been with over 600 ewes in a 6 week period

 

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

Would you leave the tup lamb in for less time.? Say take him out after a couple of weeks. Don't want to knacker the boy, and stop him growing into a good sized shearling.!
Must admit I nevert have much luck with tup lambs, they don't all gow out as I would like/ had them die in the past. Vow only to buy shearlings for a couple of years (till I inevitably see some decent cheap tup lambs at the market and buy one or two ?)

Try not to ask too much from Ram lambs, don't usually give them too many for too long ,and plenty of tlc when they are finished. They wil do as many as you will give them, but after all they are still trying to grow.

 

[yellowbelly]

I'll be pulling them off soon

...................the old ones are the best

 

[neilo]

Would you leave the tup lamb in for less time.? Say take him out after a couple of weeks. Don't want to knacker the boy, and stop him growing into a good sized shearling.!
Must admit I nevert have much luck with tup lambs, they don't all gow out as I would like/ had them die in the past. Vow only to buy shearlings for a couple of years (till I inevitably see some decent cheap tup lambs at the market and buy one or two ?)

I would suggest that depends almost entirely on how they’ve been reared. If they are ‘good’ ram lambs that have been bought from a sale, then i’d certainly Go easy on them and maybe give some tlc afterwards. I have access to a ruck of home bred ram lambs that haven’t seen anything but forage for at least 6 months, so I treat them as I would shearling. Like @Al R , my best one or two will get used on a group of pedigree ewes, then straight from there into a bigger mob of crossbred ewes.
I usually gather up all the ram lambs when I put riddles on the tups after 21 days, leaving just a couple of chasers in, but i expect 95% to be in lamb by then anyway, barring the odd disaster of course. My ram lambs then get turfed back out with the mob of rams they were with previously, where they grow on steadily overwinter on forage. By next summer, I would expect those that had been used (which I had picked on being the best) to have caught up and outgrown the rest, as they probably would have if they hadn’t been used.

I should add that i’ve Done the same with bought in (grass reared) Highlander & NZ Texel ram lambs, some of which have been 50kg at tupping, who have taken it in their stride too. It’s more down to the rearing system than the breed, but if folk want to buy 100kg ram lambs instead.....

 

[D.S.S18]

had a old tup and a lamb in together once, been together all summer - in with the ewes the old tup just knocked the lamb to death - from then on we have a couple of older tups and a couple of lambs in each batch - then swap round after 14 days .