TUPPING SEASON BEGINS
It’s autumn. Early nights, misty mornings and the rumble of rams attempting to woo eager ewes in the meadows. Whereas humans (and pigs, actually) ovulate year-round, sheep are seasonal. Once the days shorten and leaves begin to turn, the biological clock stirs and begins to bring ewes into heat. It means that, five months later when spring is on the way and food is likely to be bountiful, fresh dewy lambs will be born. Every 15 to 17 days, a ewe ovulates and shows a keen but short interest in her male counterpart. But here, at Brimwood, there’s a problem.
Almost a month ago, I split the sheep into their breeding flocks. Here on the farm I have keep rare breed Norfolk Horns and a fun flock of spotty Jacob sheep. Oberon (my Jacob ram) went off to one field with the Jacob ewes, Montague off to another with the core Norfolk Horn girls and Baa Baa into a smaller pen to mop up the others (a few Norfolk Horns who are Monty’s daughters and a couple of commercials).
All was going well; with a green raddle on, the ewes all started to appear with green tinted bottoms. With the raddle slathered on the rams’ chests, that’s a sure sign they’ve been working. BUT - 15 or so days later, Montague’s ewes began coming back into heat. That means that though ovulation occurred earlier, no pregnancy happened. With the first ewe I wasn’t too worried as she didn’t fall pregnant last year either and I started to begin she was barren. But then a second ewe came into heat. And then a third.
Uh-oh.
At this point, with Baa Baa having covered his five years, I decided to pull Monty from the field and replace him. Changing colours, Baa Baa went into the field sporting a bright orange raddle and, to no surprise, over the coming days a splattering of orange bottoms appeared. NONE of the ewes initially covered by Monty were pregnant.
There are a few potential causes:
Ewe Condition/Nutrition - If the ewes are too thin, or two fat, it could stop them falling pregnant. This is not the case. In fact, I have to say I think all my sheep are looking better than they ever had. After a few years of being on site and working out mineral deficiencies (and topping up with drenches such as this Cobalt, Selenium and B12 supplement and a bolus as a result) and dealing with barberpole worm, they’re in top notch form. In addition, all the ewes covered by rams other than Monty do not seem to have cycled again.
A consistent trend - It’s fair to say I haven’t been as focused on tupping in previous years. I tended to raddle the rams, throw them in and then leave them all winter. Oily raddles run out pretty quickly so it was often the case that ewes had no marks on them at all. I just kept faith in nature and waited until they began bagging up. So, it could be that the Norfolk Horn ewes have always cycled once or twice before actually catching.
Montague’s fertility has fallen out the window - It’s this that I think is most likely the case. Coincidence or not, I only had single lambs this year - a sign of dropping sperm count?
So, what now?
Well Monty is residing in the barn with some male friends well away from the ewes. I’ve re-raddled Oberon just to check all the Jacobs are pregnant, but it’s looking they are. Meanwhile, I await further results with the Norfolk Horns. There are three ewes Monty tupped twice that should come back into heat in the next few days. If they don’t, it shows he caught them a second time. Meanwhile, we’ll wait another 15 days, then switch Baa Baa’s raddle out for red and see if any red bottoms appear!
Farming is a complicated affair! This is the first year I’ve got a decent small flock of Norfolk Horns and that, if lambing goes well, I should be able to sell some very nice ewe lambs. It’d be blimmin’ typical for tupping to turn into a disaster! Cross your fingers, folks!