Proper and careful planning only ensures that you will be perfectly "put in your place" when things work out entirely different than planned for.
We have always had very good luck when we have used ram lambs for breeding. Our first Cheviot ram was only 5 months old when he covered our small flock of ewes in one cycle which resulted in all twins. We have sold many ram lambs over the years which have also worked well for people in their first breeding season. So when confronted with a year when ram lambs will be counted on to "get the job done" I had no doubt that we would have banner results.
Our management program is such that our homegrown ram lambs have good size and are ready to breed when their first fall comes around. This year we are using one of these homegrown Cheviot ram lambs on a number of our ewes. We are also using a 2nd Cheviot ram lamb which we purchased from North Carolina, a Clun ram lamb from Wisconsin, and Panda the Merino ram lamb was bred to Annie.
Our plan was to breed the Merinos and Cheviots first for March lambs and then to breed the Cluns for May lambs which would allow us to juggle the moms and lambs around in order to accomodate everyone comfortably. My plan ran amok as the new Cheviot ram lamb from North Carolina, while very typey and nicely conformed, arrived quite a bit less mature than I had planned on.
He went in with his breeding group in October and was pushed around quite a bit by some of my more dominant ewes. Things seemed to settle down and pecking orders were established. My hopes of finishing the Cheviot lambing in March are not to be as we have watched the little guy finally covering his ewes over the last week (this means late April lambs).
The good news? He is finally able to breed the big girls and they are letting him do the job. The bad news? We will have an extended lambing season and will probably just be finishing our Cheviots as the Cluns start to lamb in May.
Before you say it... there is no way that a marking harness would have stayed on this little guy. Next year he will have one on, but by then he will likely be much more prepared for the job.
I have been pretty impressed with our homegrown Cheviot ram as he finished his group quickly and went right to work on the sold Suffolk ewes. He didn't seem to have any problems and by the looks of the Clun ram lamb, he won't either.
Lessons learned??? 1) Expect the unexpected. 2) Don't assume that past results from YOUR flock can be repeated with other people's sheep. 3) Be patient with immature ram lambs. To be perfectly honest, I can imagine much worse things than an extended lambing season.
On an unrelated note, we got the sunshine I had wished for yesterday and the mud situation is much improved.
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