how do you get yer ewes bred if you don't have your own ram??

[aggieterpkatie]

The whole process worked out pretty well and they are willing to take my lambs in exchange for another round of breeding this fall.

I have a question if you don't mind. You said they're willing to take your lambs in exchange for breeding your ewe again? Do you mean you're going to give them any lamb(s) your ewe has? Or are they buying them from you? If they're taking them to keep them, all they're going to do is then breed your ewe for you? If that's the case, they're getting a WAY better deal.

 

[Aped]

The whole process worked out pretty well and they are willing to take my lambs in exchange for another round of breeding this fall.

I have a question if you don't mind. You said they're willing to take your lambs in exchange for breeding your ewe again? Do you mean you're going to give them any lamb(s) your ewe has? Or are they buying them from you? If they're taking them to keep them, all they're going to do is then breed your ewe for you? If that's the case, they're getting a WAY better deal.

well you wouldn't say that if you knew that they basically charged me the cost of a full-grown sheep just for breeding! Yeah they were way overpriced but it was close and convenient. I actually posted on a different forum about the cost and some people said it was expensive while other people said I should be paying that much for the privilege to use another person's ram and that they were purebred, which would mean nothing if I had a different breed than they had.

They initially tried to charge me $200 for a 6 week visit with their ram, way too much. But then I said I would buy one of their pregnant ewes as well and it worked out to $175 for the pregnant ewe and $125 for the ram service for my other ewe. Still a bit expensive but then again I see Nigerian Dwarf stud service around $75 to $100 and sheep people are much less willing to stud out their ram so I just have to deal with the $125.

Aggie I would have gone with you but the distance just wasn't good for me. Also I initially wanted purebred katahdins in case I kept some but I am definitely not keeping any.

I haven't worked out details for the lamb/stud service trade but I figure one lamb per stud service and the younger they can take them from me, the better because I have no space to raise so many lambs and goat kids. I'm really only in it for the milk.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I understand now...if they were charging that much it does make sense to trade a lamb. I definitely understand wanting a purebred ram too, because it makes your lambs more marketable. I'm going to be in the market for a good ram this year. It's probably a good thing you didn't go with my ram, because he didn't manage to get the job done on one of my ewes. Not sure if my ewe was just too tall or not, but I don't think that was it. I would have felt terrible.

 

[Aped]

I understand now...if they were charging that much it does make sense to trade a lamb. I definitely understand wanting a purebred ram too, because it makes your lambs more marketable. I'm going to be in the market for a good ram this year. It's probably a good thing you didn't go with my ram, because he didn't manage to get the job done on one of my ewes. Not sure if my ewe was just too tall or not, but I don't think that was it. I would have felt terrible.

Oh well that's good to hear for me I guess haha But not so good on your end. I hope you get some babies somehow. If you are looking for a katahdin ram I don't know if I will have an extra to sell this year but then the breeders I work with deal only with katahdins and I am sure they will have plenty of new rams for sale this year. They are in Elkton, MD.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I'm in the market for a ram, but I'm looking for a Romney or Southdown ram. Thanks though!