It is an especially demanding and gratifying time of year for us. It is time for our flock of Suffolk and Texel-Suffolk crossbred ewes to lamb. It is always a time filled with anticipation. The ewes were separated into breeding groups on September 12, 2017 and then they were exposed to various selected rams until October 31, 2017. We hope the mating with the various rams brings out the best results in lamb conformation, vigor, fertility, and longevity. The breeds we raise are meat breeds and not known for the high quality of wool, because of the more coarse fiber and shorter staple length.
The lambs are cute to say the least, and have variations in personality just like all animals including humans. They are children at heart and behave in much the same way as their human counterparts. Exploring, touching, smelling, frolicking, and worrying their moms.
Many of the ewes have multiple births. We try to produce as many twins as possible. This year we have had an unusual number triplets and a set of quadruplets. We feed the ewes that have more than two lambs extra high energy feed because of the huge demand for milk the extra lambs require. When it is necessary to reduce the burden on the mother, we provide bottle feeding of lamb milk replacer and start the lambs on pelleted supplement as soon as they are old enough to eat it.
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