I am wondering how soon is a ram lamb fertile. I had a fourteen-month-old ewe lamb unexpectedly this morning. I sold my breeding ram back at Thanksgiving and the only possibility is that my ram lamb born the end of Feb. 2012 is the father. That seems hard to believe as the lamb born this morning was small but possibly viable if I had known and been there. I found the mother stretched out unable to get up yesterday afternoon. She seems to be one that occasionally picks a spot to lay down at and then gets just a slight bit off balance or whatever and then needs to get herself wiggled around to get up. The past couple of days have been hazy, hot and humid but they can get inside whenever they want. I am wondering if the stress had something to do with her lambing early. But I never thought my four-month-old ram lamb would have sired a lamb two to three month ago. That just seems hard to believe but it is the only possiblity.
Age of Ram Fertility
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CochinBrahmaLover=)
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4 months old? HAHAHA! Yup, you got some bad luck thereshe-earl said:
He sired the lamb, their fertile by 8 weeks I believe.- Thread starter
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If he's only four months old, he couldn't have possibly been the father--sheep gestation is 5 months. You don't have another ram at your farm at all?
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There is no other sheep around. I sold my big ram right aroung Thanksgiving. The only other sheep in the pasture are another ewe with her triplet lambs. Two of them are ewes and the remaining one is a ram. They were born on Feb. 16, 2012. The little lamb that was born this morning has the same type of wool as this ram lamb and his mother have. They have more of an "angora" type wool not the tighter, kinkier normal wool look that I am used to.
I have no idea then. 
If she lambed today, she would've gotten pregnant around Jan 29, about 2-3 weeks before this ram lamb was born, so there is no possible way she was bred by him. And there's no possible way she was bred by your other ram who you sold back in November.
Do you have any wethers?
If she lambed today, she would've gotten pregnant around Jan 29, about 2-3 weeks before this ram lamb was born, so there is no possible way she was bred by him. And there's no possible way she was bred by your other ram who you sold back in November.Do you have any wethers?
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Yeah that's kinda weird. lol
CochinBrahmaLover=)
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Oh gee i feel dumb... guess i should know sheep gestation.... LOL!
That IS weird. Are there any other sheep by you, like, maybe one with a 'wether' or ram that could've ventured to your ewes?
That IS weird. Are there any other sheep by you, like, maybe one with a 'wether' or ram that could've ventured to your ewes?
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No other ram(s) or wether(s) around. The ewe doesn't have an udder yet. I am guessing that she stressed yesterday and that is what caused her to lamb. The lamb was about the size of my tripets when they were born and they weren't huge. I have never seen a lamb at two months gestation but it had a nice amount of wool on it and really looked pretty normal.
I really don't think it was your ram lamb that got your ewe pregnant. Rams don't reach puberty until at LEAST four or five months old. They aren't like goats where they are known to breed at two months
But as for the lamb's size, it would naturally be small because of the ewe's age. If it was aborted three months early, it likely would've been a stillborn and be very tiny and have no wool on it whatsoever. However, because it was so fully developed, I think this lamb was a full-term baby (or close to it).
So I don't know. I think your sheep is weird to get pregnant right outta the blue like that
But as for the lamb's size, it would naturally be small because of the ewe's age. If it was aborted three months early, it likely would've been a stillborn and be very tiny and have no wool on it whatsoever. However, because it was so fully developed, I think this lamb was a full-term baby (or close to it).
So I don't know. I think your sheep is weird to get pregnant right outta the blue like that
