What do I do with the Ram

[GAM]

I have a small flock of sheep with a ram running with them, when do I take him out, and what do I need to do with him then etc?

 

[Northeastfarmer]

When he’s tupped them all....

 

[An ancient git]

Keep life simple and just leave him with ewes . Put him in a pen seperate when Caking ewes though . He'll be ok again with them in field in spring , but depending on ewe breed , pull him out at shearing time(ish) . Then put a wether lamb with him for company .....

 

[Wooly]

Just leave him in. He will be a pain and lonely on his own.............. unless you have some wethers still around.

 

[cheviot53]

You can leave him with the ewes , you may get the odd ewe that may lamb very late and you need to be careful about the feed as ewe food can cause urolathiasis or take him out and put him with weather lambs or a weather kept just for company

 

[Ffermer Bach]

keep one of the ram lambs next year, and get him vasectomised to use as a teaser, then you will also have him to keep the ram company after tupping

 

[neilo]

+1 for leaving him in if you only have the one.
Don’t worry about him having any ewe nuts either, unless he’s a ram lamb. Stones not s problem in mature rams, just juveniles, unless you intend poking daft quantities into them.
A lb or 2 a day, as you might give ewes approaching lambing, really isn’t going to cause any bother (apart from unnecessary cost and turning him into a lardy arse, of course).

 

[An ancient git]

Agree with Neilo , but for safety didn't suggest (but done it years ago).
Had a ewe last year that 'held' 1st service , no repeat , but bounced back in Jan ! Result lambed on 31/5 . Left lamb with her to almost 5 months old .... dried off naturally ..... and 'weaned' lamb on the day tups went out again . She was served again in first 9 days , so see what happens this time ! A late lamb is better than no lamb at all economically . If not many ewes , just work with Nature !!! And DON'T listen to boffins and experts .... They don't pay the f'ing bills .......

 

[neilo]

Agree with Neilo , but for safety didn't suggest (but done it years ago).
Had a ewe last year that 'held' 1st service , no repeat , but bounced back in Jan ! Result lambed on 31/5 . Left lamb with her to almost 5 months old .... dried off naturally ..... and 'weaned' lamb on the day tups went out again . She was served again in first 9 days , so see what happens this time ! A late lamb is better than no lamb at all economically . If not many ewes , just work with Nature !!! And DON'T listen to boffins and experts .... They don't pay the f'ing bills .......

Personally I like to finish lambing at some point, but not before 2 full cycles (but expect 95%+ in the first cycle, barring disasters). Then rams come out and I cull the empties.
One of those ‘boffins’ was telling us the other week that you should only leave the rams in for 24 days before ‘pulling them off’ (@Nithsdale Farmer ) as that’s plenty of time to be lambing......

 

[An ancient git]

One either says f'it .... one cycle / two .... 24 days is rubbish , but 'whatever' ! BOFFINS DON'T PAY THE BILLS ! This thread was about a solo ram and easiest way to give him a life .... Reckon on that one we are all in basic agreement !?? I totally agree that it's easiest to do 2 full cycles (say 36-40 days) and then pull rams out .... Then scrap any empties . Personally I never keep a replacement gimmer lamb that is not born in first 17-20 days max , allowing for slight gestation differentials ....

 

[Al R]

Personally I like to finish lambing at some point, but not before 2 full cycles (but expect 95%+ in the first cycle, barring disasters). Then rams come out and I cull the empties.
One of those ‘boffins’ was telling us the other week that you should only leave the rams in for 24 days before ‘pulling them off’ (@Nithsdale Farmer ) as that’s plenty of time to be lambing......

The thing is is that if your lambing ewe lambs after the ewes or after 17 days after the ewes then you may as well have the last 15-30 ewes that didn’t catch first cycle lambing aswell. My late cycling ewes will lamb with the ewe lambs and all lambs are culled but therefore means empties are under 2%

 

[Nithsdale]

Personally I like to finish lambing at some point, but not before 2 full cycles (but expect 95%+ in the first cycle, barring disasters). Then rams come out and I cull the empties.
One of those ‘boffins’ was telling us the other week that you should only leave the rams in for 24 days before ‘pulling them off’ (@Nithsdale Farmer ) as that’s plenty of time to be lambing......

From my experience you can pull off a tup any time of the year



My rams were with their girls for 3 cycles (51 days)

 

[Whitepeak]

We only have a small flock atm, 27 ewes, and they have just finished their 2nd cycle this weekend. I was only talking to dad yesterday what shall we do with the tup, and we decided we'd take the harness off him this week and leave him with the ewes for ease of management.

 

[neilo]

We only have a small flock atm, 27 ewes, and they have just finished their 2nd cycle this weekend. I was only talking to dad yesterday what shall we do with the tup, and we decided we'd take the harness off him this week and leave him with the ewes for ease of management.

If you stick some raddle paste on him, it will hang around for months if he’s not serving anything, and would mark any he does happen to tup late. At least you’ll know then, for the cost of a few pennies.