To breed or not to breed??

L J

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I have a 3 1/2 month old katahdin ram lamb and 2 lamb ewes (one is Barbados cross) from same farm (plus my sheep/goat hybrid who is now castrated) My understanding is that the relation is more like 2nd cousins(if that close), not direct siblings. Are they ok to breed with each other?

I've never raised sheep until now, but I do have experience breeding horses and cows.

My purpose for breeding would be to sell the babies. Otherwise these are just pets.

I am reading they could possibly breed soon (5 months??) Buyt the girls only weigh 30-40 lbs right now (ram is closer to 50-60). If I do breed them, should I wait a full year or is this fall ok? should I keep the ram separate until I decide to breed?

Any suggestions, opinions etc is great appreciated. I was going to castrate the ram lamb, but I got him home, and he is just so gorgeous, all I could think of is that he will make beautiful babies. The woman I got him from seemed to think he would make a great breeding ram. He does have a sweet personality. not one hint of aggression.

I'm adding a couple pics. The white one is one of the ewe lambs. We call the ram Mr. Brown for now. (take a close look at the 2nd pic, my geep is examining the ram, lol)
Mr Brown and Pearl1.JPG
Mr Brown 1.JPG
 

mikiz

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The ram does look like a sweetie, who couldn't love that face!
I think if you want to breed you should probably keep the ram separate until you know how heavy the girls are supposed to be, I think it's 80% of their mature weight? You could give him the geep for company.
 

Sheepshape

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Yes,I'd agree that it really depends on how big the ewe lambs grow by the time that you would want to breed them.

This year I had an great surprise. A little (and I mean little....probably 50% of expected weight) ewe lamb who would have been just 7 months old produced twin lambs.....unassisted on a very cold night as no=one knew of her state (thick and fairly long winter coat). She had been all the time with a group of lambs too small to consider for breeding, and never close to (or so we thought) a ram. So.....no extra food, no supplements etc. The little lambs are now two weeks old and the ewe and the lambs are looking very fit and healthy. Nature has a way of confounding.
 

SheepGirl

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They likely won't come into heat until fall anyway, around 7-8 months old. They should be fine to breed together; I've bred full siblings, maternal half siblings, sire/daughter, dam/son, and haven't had an issue. Cousins wouldn't be a problem.
 

Ridgetop

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I had only one ram until this year and he bred his daughter producing a eweling, then he bred the granddsaughter eweling producing a ram. Both of them are fine. I told my breeder friend that I was going to make the 3rd gen terminal, but she told me that in sheeop you can breed father x daughter for 4 gens before you have trouble. The problem hits in the 5th generation when the lambs will be born with a lot of genetic problems. So I would say, if you want to breed the ram to the ewelings, go ahead. Since the ewes and ram are only cousins and one is even an outspecies outcross, they will be fine to breed. That is called line breeding which is how most people breed to intensify the best genetic qualities of their animals. Once you have a couple of ewes out of him, you can even breed him to his daughters if you are trying to grow your flock. When you get to the 3rd generation ewelings, replace the ram with an outcross. Sorry, an outcross ram is a ram with no family ties to your sheep.

I replaced my ram this year but am keeping my old ram for another year. We had lost our old LGD and had some dog kills last year before we got our Anatolian. So we bought a couple of replacement ewelings this year as well, and are exposing them to the old ram to have more unrelated ewelings for the new ram. Then I will sell the old ram next year. He is only 3 , and a terrific out of season breeder. I really like him, but don't really want more than one ram on the property.
 

Bossroo

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These sheep are cute. However , to be honest from the breeding perspective, cute does not equate to breeding quality as their conformation does not say anything that would improve on the quality of the next generation. Their destiny would be best served by castrating the ram and just keep all of them as pets .
 

mysunwolf

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Honestly, he looks like a good prospect for a breeding ram. Not excellent, but a pretty solid guy. His bone structure is a little thin, but not bad. He's a little short in length, but you could always breed him over longer females. I think there's no harm in keeping him and breeding him to create some fun sheep for you. I would recommend waiting until the ewe lamb is at least 8 months, and then only if she is a good weight as @mikiz said.
 

L J

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These sheep are cute. However , to be honest from the breeding perspective, cute does not equate to breeding quality as their conformation does not say anything that would improve on the quality of the next generation. Their destiny would be best served by castrating the ram and just keep all of them as pets .
My goal is selling the lambs for butcher, you think they aren't good enough even for that?


Honestly, he looks like a good prospect for a breeding ram. Not excellent, but a pretty solid guy. His bone structure is a little thin, but not bad. He's a little short in length, but you could always breed him over longer females. I think there's no harm in keeping him and breeding him to create some fun sheep for you. I would recommend waiting until the ewe lamb is at least 8 months, and then only if she is a good weight as @mikiz said.
Wow, I totally forgot this thread. Had to tend to some medical stuff this summer, but Im tip top now.

Anyway, My intent for breeding would just be to make a little extra cash to help offset costs of having them. Most likely will add 1-2 ewes this next spring to add "new blood." Obviously they are meat sheep, not for show quality. Admittedly new to this, just with my own research and this message board trying to gain as much knowledge about this as possible.

I looked back at those photos and had to Laugh. Capone (formerly Mr. Brown) does look skinny, but that was 5 months ago. Here are a couple pics from this weekend, first pic is w the ewes. He sure is flirting a lot as I call it. The girls are squatting and swishing their tails, but I haven't seen any breeding yet. I've been home for the last month and can see them all day from my living room. Watching their behavior has been quite interesting to say the least.

capone and girls oct 15.jpg

capone oct 15.jpg
 
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L J

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oh, btw, I haven't tried to pick him up , but I would estimate his weight now at well over 100 lbs, maybe close to 150. The girls are pushing 70-80.
 

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