SheepGirl's 2015 Lambing Thread - Lambs are here!

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Check out my lambing journals from past years: 2012 (2 ewes) | 2013 (3 ewes) | 2014 (6 ewes)

FLOCK SIRE

Valentino, born February 2014
1/2 Dorset x 1/2 Finnsheep

20140916_184009.jpeg


MATURE EWES

1413009221.png

#44 - Ciqala, born May 2006
1/2 Babydoll Southdown x 1/2 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1-2-2-2-3-3 | Lambs Expected: 1-2
DATE BRED: 10/01/14 | DATE DUE: 02/25/15
LAMBED 2/26/2015 - SINGLE
#31 - Ewe, x.x lbs


1413009266.png

#73 - Valentine, born March 2009
3/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1-2-1-2 | Lambs Expected: 2
DATE BRED: 10/08/14 | DATE DUE: 03/04/15
LAMBED 3/05/2015 - TWINS
#35 - Ram, x.x lbs - died, hypothermia
#36 - Ewe, x.x lbs


1413009353.png

#09 - Lady Gaga, born May 2012
3/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1 | Lambs Expected: 2
DATE BRED: 10/07/14 | DATE DUE: 03/03/15
LAMBED 3/02/2015 - TWINS
#33 - Ewe, x.x lbs
#34 - Ewe, x.x lbs


259966.jpg

#10 - Katy Perry, born May 2012
3/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1-2 | Lambs Expected: 2
DATE BRED: 10/05/14 | DATE DUE: 03/01/15
LAMBED 2/22/2015 - SINGLE
#32 - Ram, x.x lbs - died, no anus


YEARLING EWES

1413044948.png

#13 - Rosalie, born March 2013
1/2 Texel x 3/8 Babydoll Southdown x 1/8 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1 | Lambs Expected: 2
DATE BRED: 10/03/14 (??) | DATE DUE: 02/27/15
LAMBED 2/25/2015 - SINGLE
#30 - Ewe, x.x lbs


1413045219.png

#15 - Bella, born March 2013
1/2 Texel x 1/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale
Lambing Record: 1 | Lambs Expected: 2
DATE BRED: 10/02/14 (??) | DATE DUE: 02/26/15
LAMBED 2/22/2015 - TWINS
#28 - Ewe, x.x lbs
#29 - Ewe, x.x lbs


EWE LAMBS

1413008260.png

#19 - Phoibe, born February 2014
1/2 Texel x 1/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale
Lambs Expected: 1
DATE BRED: 10/23/14 | DATE DUE: 03/19/15
LAMBED 3/17/2015 - SINGLE
#37 - Ewe, x.x lbs


1413007339.png

#25 - Elektra, born March 2014
1/2 Texel x 3/8 Babydoll Southdown x 1/8 Montadale
Lambs Expected: 1
DATE BRED: 10/25/14 | DATE DUE: 03/21/15

1413006973.png

"Chevy," born March 2014
Border Cheviot
Lambs Expected: 1
DATE BRED: xx/xx/14 | DATE DUE: xx/xx/15

~~ You can go to http://twasheep.weebly.com for more information ~~
Or visit our NEW website http://raessheepandchickenco.weebly.com for UPDATED info! (old web site is still kept up for archive purposes)
 
Last edited:

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
LAMB CROSSES

1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finnsheep x 1/4 Babydoll Southdown x 1/4 Montadale (#44)
1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finnsheep x 3/8 Babydoll Southdown x 1/8 Montadale (#73, #09, #10)
1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finnsheep x 1/4 Texel x 3/16 Babydoll Southdown x 1/16 Montadale (#13, #25)
1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finnsheep x 1/4 Texel x 1/8 Babydoll Southdown x 1/8 Montadale (#15, #19)
1/4 Dorset x 1/4 Finnsheep x 1/2 Cheviot ("Chevy")
 

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
DUE DATES

02/25 - Ciqala
02/26 - Bella (??)
02/27 - Rosie (??)
03/01 - Katy Perry
03/03 - Lady Gaga
03/04 - Ali
03/19 - Phoibe

?? - Ram lost his crayon and I couldn't buy a replacement for a couple days, but there were slight green marks on the ewes from where the crayon had rubbed off on his wool. He was acting interested in the ewes, so I think they were bred. We'll find out soon if they get marked.

** All six mature/yearling ewes are bred, they should be lambing over the course of about a week. Now just waiting for all the ewe lambs to breed! Should be soon... last year's ewe lambs bred on average at 222 days old (221 days for Rosie, Elektra's full sister & 223 days for Bella, Phoibe's full sister) and that would be 09/25 (would be coming back into heat around the 12th??) & 10/21 for Hank's last daughters. I don't know about Chevy girl. She may not breed this year or she may...I know nothing of the genetics of the flock she came from.

** Phoibe was bred 10/23 at 250 days old.
 
Last edited:

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
LAMBING INFO

2/22 - Bella (#15) - Twins, #28 ewe (x.x lbs), #29 ewe (x.x lbs)
2/25 - Rosie (#13) - Single, #30 ewe (x.x lbs)
2/26 - Ciqala (#44) - Single, #31 (x.x lbs)
3/02 - Katy Perry (#10) - Single, #32 ram (x.x lbs)
3/02 - Lady Gaga (#09) - Twins, #33 ewe (x.x lbs), #34 ewe (x.x lbs)
3/05 - Ali (#73) - Twins, #35 ram (x.x lbs), #36 ewe (x.x lbs)
3/17 - Phoibe (#19) - Single, #37 ewe (x.x lbs)
3/20 - Elektra (#25) - Single, #38, ram (x.x lbs)

Average Lambing Rate: 138%
Ewe lambs - 100%
Yearlings - 150%
Mature ewes - 150%

Not such a great lambing year this year, a part from all the ewe lambs! Two ewes I was expecting twins from, I didn't get, instead they gave me a single... had they produced twins, lambing rates for yearling would've been 200% and mature ewes would've been 175%.
 
Last edited:

Baymule

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 22, 2010
Messages
33,090
Reaction score
98,644
Points
873
Location
East Texas
You have quite the cross breed program going. Did you cross them yourself to breed the best sheep for you needs or did you buy cross breeds? I have studied sheep for that day when I finally get to have sheep. Picking a breed will be real hard. Your ram is a good looking boy!
 

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
My first ewe was a 1/2 Babydoll Southdown x 1/2 Montadale cross ewe. She was bred by my neighbor, who gave her to me. He had a flock of Montadales, but he was in his 70s, so he wanted a smaller, more manageable sheep, so he crossed his flock of Montadales with a Babydoll Southdown ram. Every year he would keep back some ewes from the cross and get rid of some of the older purebred ewes and he would get another Babydoll ram. So that's where my 3/4 Babydoll ewes come from.

Then my flock moved to my house, at the time I had one ram, one wether, two mature ewes, and two ewe lambs. I loved Katy Perry's butt so much I wanted to breed my flock to have large butts/a lot of muscle. However, because my sheep at the time were mostly Babydoll influenced, they were small and short statured, so that took away a lot of my options for a meat type ram (no blackface breeds)... except for one, the Texel. I bought my Texel ram and used him for two breeding seasons, I also bred him to two of his daughters from the first year.

So then comes this year, after evaluating my previous two years. I noticed that my ewes had sound udders, but they were pretty small. I wanted more capacity in their udders. So I was looking at a dairy breed or a Dorset. Again, I didn't want to lose the muscle I just bred into my flock, so Dorset was looking to be my option. I stumbled upon a Dorset x Finn cross ram (the one I have now) and I figured he would be a good fit. All of his lambs will be 25% Finnsheep, which means all of his daughters will produce 25% more lambs than others in my flock for their age. Also, there have been studies where Finn x carcasses are indistinguishable from others, so I thought the Finn influence wouldn't be too bad.

So I think the kind of sheep I am trying to produce is a maternal type animal (easy keeper, lambs easily, weans 2+ lambs/ewe, good udder capacity, high weaning wts in relation to animal size) that produces muscular lambs. I will probably rotate between maternal and terminal sires every year or every other year or so and then once I'm happy with my group of ewes I may pick a homebred ram lamb to breed everyone to to kind of tie everything together, if that makes sense, lol.
 

SheepGirl

Master of Sheep
Golden Herd Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
3,625
Reaction score
909
Points
343
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Also, @Baymule, you can go to my Sheep Breed Selector (link in my signature) to help you decide. You don't have to have purebred sheep, a crossbreed of the top breeds that match you would be a good fit also.
 

Baymule

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 22, 2010
Messages
33,090
Reaction score
98,644
Points
873
Location
East Texas
With all the different breeds of sheep that there are, is there not a breed that meets your expectations? Not trying to be a smart alec, just a non-sheep person that has them on the wish list. We just bought a place with 8 acres, so the wish list is getting closer to reality.

I have looked at the different breeds of sheep and there are so many choices! Hair or wool, small or large, spotted or solid, black, brown or white, white face or black face and the list goes on. My main reason for having them would be for meat. I know me and I know that if I had wool sheep, then I would have to dive off into using the wool......need to learn how to knit and crochet......
 

Bossroo

True BYH Addict
Joined
Jun 15, 2010
Messages
1,416
Reaction score
636
Points
221
Baymule, when considering breeds of sheep to raise, and since you want sheep for meat, you have to also consider your land as in soil type ( sandy, clay, loam, rocky, etc. ) as well as it's carrying capacity , climate ( seasonal heat as well as cold ), rainfall amount, grasses and other forage, etc.. Now, SheepGirl lives in Maryland and you live in Texas, and I hazard to guess that your local conditions vary widely. Her crossbred sheep thrive in her location where if they were in your area of Texas they would barely survive. I used to breed Purebred Suffolks on irrigated pastures for ram sales in North Central Cal. with great success. I also had hundreds of Ramoulett and Corriedale ewes for wool production and for crossbred meat production. When wool prices dropped like a rock and at the same time shearing costs skyrocketed and finding shearers became a chore and economically no longer feasible, I sold out. While years later , my next door neighbor in the arid Central Valley of Cal. purchased 20 yearling Suffolk ewes from a very hot desert environment in Southern Cal. which were a mere shadow of what my yearling ewes were due to lack of lusher pastures, just some course grasses , browse and tumbleweeds. He also purchased a Dorper ram to cross onto those ewes, and you wouldn't believe the difference in the quality of the resulting lambs on dry pasture with only 6 and 1/2 inches of rainfall per year. In this day and age of this current economy and your location, I would suggest that you Google : " Dorper Sheep in Texas for sale " and read about this breed of sheep developed in arid Africa using Dorset rams onto the Persian fat rumped ( desert breed) ewes . A meat breed that sheds wool so no shearing expenses , browses like a goat and grazes grass like a sheep therefore they thrive while other breeds merely exist, breeds year round so will produce 3 lamb crops in 2 years, the rate of gain as well as there high weaning weights attests very favorably to the ewes' milking ability, the lamb has a very favorable quality of meat in carcass competitions. Also they are quite docil and easy to handle. Good luck and enjoy your search !
 

Baymule

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 22, 2010
Messages
33,090
Reaction score
98,644
Points
873
Location
East Texas
@Bossroo I started answering you, then realized I was doing a major highjack, so started my own thread. would like to converse further with you!
 
Top