Tupping Time

Our two Rams have been busy at work for the past few weeks as they have been put back in with the ewes.

We plan the time our rams go in with our ewes by working out when we would like our Lambs to be born. But we are also governed by the time of year, their estrus cycles (heat cycles) are affected by the seasons and the amount of light which enters their eyes sending signals to their brain which control the release of hormones.

Because we offer lambing talks throughout the easter holidays it is also important for us to coincide our lambing with Easter. If they lamb too early we will not be able to catch the lambs come easter and if it is too late we will have nothing to show the visitors.

Although we run a flock of pedigree Jacob Sheep, for commercial viability we put the majority to a Poll Dorset ram due to the fact the cross is a better quality of lamb.

In total this year we have put 66 Jacob ewes to our rams. 48 have gone to Dirk our Poll Dorset ram and the other 18 have gone to Ussian our Jacob ram.

Dirk our Poll Dorset Ram

Ussian is new this year to Arlington as we are attempting to inject some new Jacob blood into our flock. The last few years only ten ewes have gone to our Jacob ram but this year he was lucky enough to receive
eighteen ewes.

Ussian our pedigree Jacob ram

We went through a process of selecting the ewes that best fitted the breed profile as a way of deciding who went to Ussian and who went to Dirk. We also took into consideration the ewes history and their behavior. This is due to the fact that if we know for example a ewe has foot trouble then we do not want to breed pedigree stock from her. One ewe was heading to Ussian but due to the fact she threw herself madly against a gate for no apparent reason meant it was enough of a reason for me to send her to Dirk instead.

Once our ewes are separated they get put into their respective fields with their ram of our choosing. Each ram has raddle paint applied to his chest. Rather a messy process with Dirk due to his crazy nature. The only method to capture him was to contain him in a small stable and while Murray pinned him in the corner, I had to apply his red raddle paint on his chest. Unfortunately due to the fact the shed was dark he ended up covered in raddle paint all down his legs and belly and I looked like I had a major artery cut on my arm!

We use raddle paint as a way to check our rams are covering all of the ewes. Each week we reapply the raddle paint to make sure all the ewes are well marked. Some farms will change the colour of the raddle paint every week and therefore they will have a better idea of when the individual ewes are going to give birth.

Our Jacob ewes who are with Dirk

Our Rams this year stayed with our ewes for 5 weeks. Each ewe has an estrus cycle (or heat cycle) which averages 17 days, ovulation occurs in the mid to late part of their cycle. This is why it is important to make sure the rams stay in to allow the ewes to cycle twice in case the ram has missed her the first time round.

Now the rams have been taken out it is just a waiting game until Easter.