Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

farmerjan

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It is called "flushing".... most sheep people used to do it as a normal course to get ewes into better condition for breeding... about 3-6 weeks before breeding... it kicks the nutrition level up which signals the body=ovaries= to produce, mature, and release multiple eggs when their system is stimulated during the breeding season.

It was not the drought per se, it was that you were compensating for the drought conditions, with feeding "better" because there wasn't anything for them to graze and browse.... so you had "upped" their nutrition level in order to keep them in shape... and then when the conditions did not improve, you added the alfalfa and that then kicked the nutrition up a tad... hence signaling the body to go into an increased production level of eggs.

Many sheep breeders in Conn where I grew up, would turn their sheep into some fresh growing pasture about 2-4 weeks before turning in the rams... and the increased nutrition in the growing grass was like a "kick start" to their reproductive system and they would produce and release more eggs. Hence the increase in twins and triplets. Breeders wanted to achieve a 200% lamb crop average.... meaning they wanted to average twins overall the flock....
In Conn, we would get a hot spell from mid July through August... not drought like you guys got, but still it would get hot and dry. Then we would often get a pattern of rain, with hurricane season getting going up there, and it would cool off nights and the rain and dew would get the fall cool season grasses growing, Lambs were preferred in March when there was some warmth in the day time sun... so that meant getting them bred in late Sept/early Oct... right after the sheep were on "better pastures"....
 

Ridgetop

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It is called "flushing".... most sheep people used to do it as a normal course to get ewes into better condition for breeding... about 3-6 weeks before breeding... it kicks the nutrition level up which signals the body=ovaries= to produce, mature, and release multiple eggs when their system is stimulated during the breeding season.
Exactly what FarmerJan said!

You inadvertently flushed all your sheep which caused those with a propensity for twinning and triplets to do so. Congratulations! You boosted their nutritional intake after they were on a lower nutrient diet. The trick is also to cut back to normal feeding after the ewes are bred which again you did since they were on pasture again. That made sure that the lambs were not too big to lamb normally.
 

Finnie

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The video in the link is also on UTube but I don't expect it to be up for very long. The video to me, is definitely worth watching but it is about 120 minutes long. I actually had some contact with a couple of the scientists in the video when I was working with the scientists in Antarctica on their ice mass tracking program.

Thank you for posting this. I just watched the whole thing. (On YouTube actually.) I thought it was very good. I’m going to see if my husband will watch it too. I think he would like it, but I might not be able to convince him of the time commitment.

I especially liked towards the end when they had sections named Climate vs _____ (different groups). So much ulterior motives. 🫤

It was also very telling that because of government funding, all that any group had to do was add some rhetoric about climate, and then their money/grant/proposal was sure to get approved. And of course, to keep their funding, just not mention if their study disproved climate problems. More profitable to say well we need to study further.
 

SageHill

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Thank you for posting this. I just watched the whole thing. (On YouTube actually.) I thought it was very good. I’m going to see if my husband will watch it too. I think he would like it, but I might not be able to convince him of the time commitment.

I especially liked towards the end when they had sections named Climate vs _____ (different groups). So much ulterior motives. 🫤

It was also very telling that because of government funding, all that any group had to do was add some rhetoric about climate, and then their money/grant/proposal was sure to get approved. And of course, to keep their funding, just not mention if their study disproved climate problems. More profitable to say well we need to study further.
Planning on watching tonight when all my chores are done.
 

Mike CHS

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We took a few pictures the other day so a few of those are attached. These vary from 1-2 months old,
 

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