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Early lambing
Author: John 
Date:   03-10-04 12:01

I have always in the past breed my ewes so that they will lamb at the end of February and the beginning of March. This year I tried to get a few bred earlier ( beginning of January) because of the greater market for older lambs. I left the ram in for around 3 weeks and then took him out, and when it came time for them to lamb only one of the 20 ewes gave birth. I was just wondering if there is a trick that you know of to get them to cycle earlier because I know there are a lot of breeders that have lambs in December and January. I know that there are injections for hogs and cattle to bring them into heat I just wondered if there is something like that for ewes, or is there is some other way to get them to cycle earlier? Thanks
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RE: Early lambing
Author: Gordon 
Date:   03-10-04 17:56

I would like to know what breed of sheep you are raising and where you are in the US. Also how old are your ewes?

Gordon
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RE: Early lambing
Author: John 
Date:   03-10-04 22:17

We raise club lambs mainly suffolk breeding a little hamp in some of them, I am located in northern Indiana, and I breed ewes everywhere from yearlings to I think I have four 8 year olds. However, the majority of the ewes are 2 to 4 years old. Of the 20 ewes I put in this last year early, I think 4 were yearlings three were 6 or 7 years old and the rest were 2-4, the one ewe that lambed was a yearling.
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RE: Early lambing
Author: Gordon 
Date:   03-11-04 11:08

Living where you do and trying to breed Suffolk and Hamps in the heat of
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