lambing weights and update on BFL lambs

Since I am a man of numbers, and like doing graphs, pie charts, spread sheets all based on numbers and performance, of any animal (dog, pigeon, sheep, goat, cow, horse, chicken etc) I find these things fascinating!

BFL lambs. 14 born so far, 12 alive (I lost one of the prolapsed ewes lambs last night at 3 weeks of age. They were never really gaining and unthrifty, no matter how many other ewes they nursed off of. The other one still remains quite small).

BFL ewe, weights of lambs, sexes of lambs:

Beechtree Kiloran, 11# 7oz, 7#, ram and ewe - didn't accept lambs initially. lost ewe lamb

ShelteringPines Morovia, 9#11oz, 7#11oz, two rams - great mom

ShelteringPines Nubia, 6#12oz, 8#2oz, two rams - prolapsed, didn't accept lambs initially. lost white ram lamb.

ShelteringPines Catalonia, 11# 6oz, 11# 4oz ewe and ram - great mom

Cross Wind Bea, 8#, 7# 6oz, ram and ewe - great mom, ewe lamb is stiff legged, been giving BoSe, Vit B12 and Nutri Drench. Still nursing good.

Beechtree GlenLuce, 10# 11oz, 10# 6oz, both ewes - didn't accept lambs initially

Cross Wind Clover, 11# 6oz, 11# 10oz, ewe and ram - didn't accept lambs initially


All the ewes that didn't like their lambs initially are now taking them, even if they aren't calling to them, but they sleep with them and let them nurse.

RYL Rachildas had a single white ewe lamb out of Jazz. She was nearly TEN pounds!

FirthofFifth Evidence of Autumn had twin mule ewe lambs out of Burma. They were 7# and 6# 11oz.

Yes photos are here. I just have to uploaded.

weighing lambs and ramblings

I thought prior to my trip to MFF that my lambs were quite large. Yes there were a few exceptions, but for the most part I felt my lambs were of good size for their age. No grain. No supplements aside from kelp, mineral, etc. Just pasture.

I weighed all my sheep (ewes, rams, lambs) on 6-11 when i wormed everyone. Today, I wormed with Valbazen as I had seen tapes in a few sheep recently (not at my farm or my sheep) and was petrified that I might have some. Better safe than sorry. I hadn't used Valbazen in nearly a year, since the last time I wanted to worm for tapes. Its the only brand I am aware of that kills the tapes.

Anyway I decided since I was alone that I would not weigh the adult ewes but just the lambs. All of them.

My largest lamb was actually my F1 Jamie polled ram Levi. He was a whopping 70 pounds already! Holy crap! My other AI rams were all 45-60 pounds, with all of them at least doubling their size from 9 weeks ago! I was quite impressed. I checked all lambs again for proper bites, conformation, fleece and on the boys to make sure there were two testes of equal size that were in the scrotum, not up in the body cavity.

There are two rams that are going to have fatal horns. one happens to be an F1 Timothy, my Ag ram. They are massive horns but I don't think they are going to clear the head, or they will be very close. The other has horns growing straight back into his neck. Pity.

The rest of the lambs look REALLY nice. My youngest lamb, out of Jazz and Sterling (Sedalia's full sister) weighs more than most of the lambs several weeks older than her. She is already 42 pounds (her mother is only 65 pounds as a two year old). Her fleece is just stunning and I'm really excited about her (as well as most of my other lambs)

I'm getting much pickier with my F1s in the fleece department and I'm waiting for some of them to change over in their fleeces. I'll probably hold over several in case their fleece does change over the winter.

I've also decided (at least today) that I will NOT be breeding any ewe lambs. Stephen still has larger lambs than me and I said I won't breed anything under 50 pounds. Last year according to my papers I had ewe lambs weighing between 40 and 60 pounds November 15, when I put groups together. I am already at those weights and that is three months away. I'm not trying to raise huge animals, just excited they are going to mostly all be over 50 pounds by then.

I'm also going to be lambing earlier in the spring to avoid the Cardigan National and hope to have older lambs to show and be competitive with next year at MFF and Jefferson.

I'm also not breeding ewe lambs (at least today) due to the fact that although sales are going well this year, for the most part people are still waiting for the economy to change. I figure I've done my part in stimulating it by buying sheep by the dozens last year, and just a few this year. Most people I talk to are waiting to sell lambs before buying lambs. '

I have a total mature ewe flock of 37 ewes including sale ewes and ewes that have found new homes but are still waiting to be delivered. I plan on using any sale animals on the BFL if they don't sell , 15 ewes to AI, and probably another 10 to ground breedings. That would give me 25 ewes for purebred, 10 for mules and then 10 or so BFLs to breed (not breeding lambs in those either). I had 32 ewes lamb this year in 2008. So not too terribly many more :)

I am bringing a few sale sheep to Jefferson. I hope to sell a few there to pay for my entries for Jefferson, but time will tell :) If you think I might have something you'd like, do let me know :)

Standard Weights Shetlands and BFLs

Now before everyone gets all excited.....I have found the weights from the SSS Standard. Its a guideline that should be followed. Maybe not all of your sheep (or mine) will fit the range and that is ok! but if your entire flock is under or over then maybe its time to think about where you are headed :)

Standard Shetland Weights:
Ewes: 75-100# (mature)
Rams: 90-110# (mature) (I"ve also seen up to 125# mentioned in some places, not on the SSS)

My ewes: 60-100# (yearling to mature)
Rams: 80-120# (yearling to mature)

I feel comfortable with these numbers. My average for the ewes is 78.6 pounds, so on the lower end of the scale but they are growing babies like crazy! Its fun to see how much the lambs take out of them. One ewe has lost 12 pounds since her lamb was born but her lamb is also one of the fastest growing lambs out there! I weighed them before breeding groups and then again tonight, so about 6.5 months later. My yearlings are in the 60-80 pound range so in another two years they will all most likely be within the limits.

I do have a 2 year old ewe who is quite danty. She is 62 pounds now, with her breeding group weight at 65 pounds. Her daughter is nearly 4 weeks later than my AI lambs and nearly the same size :) So she's a great momma who seems to be holding her condition.

My BFLs average weight was 126.6 pounds. I found different weight averages on the BLU and BFLBA websites.

BLUNA states 150-175# for ewes and BFLBA states 170-220#. Which is correct? I couldn't find a weight on the UK BFL breed association page.

For rams BLUNA states 200-250# and BFLBA states 250-300#. Again which is correct?

I have only one two year old ewe and she is currently at 145 pounds. Her daughter is nearly gaining .75#/day and momma is maintaing weight. The baby is alrady 45# at 53 days old! At breeding group time, she weighed 120 pounds. My yearlings average from 105-145 and none are bred (not even late!!)

I should be fun to try and weight them all NEXT year :)