# Breeding Age



## GoatGirl123 (Jan 23, 2014)

We are planning to breed our Shetland sheep at some point (not any time soon because she is still very young and small), but we were wondering when the average time was for breeding Shetlands. Do you wait until they are a specific age, weight, height, or all three? Thanks!


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## PricklyThistle (Feb 6, 2014)

For me it depends on their growth rate. A good grower who puts on lots of weight that first season could be bred by fall but a ewe who puts on weight slowly or has any issues that puts her behind should probably wait until the next season at least. I might not choose to breed her at all if she is stunted in some way that keeps her from reaching a normal size.


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Me, personally, I like to wait until they are going to be 2 years old before they lamb, specially since they are a smaller breed of sheep.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Look up the breed standard for lambing. The standard for my finns is to lamb by the time they are 1 year old - so breeding at about 7 months of age.


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Like my animals to mature before I ask them to lamb. 
I won't of wanted to breed my refined Finn ewe at 7 months, or even a year old.
Want her bones and body to be fully developed, first, as the lambs will rob her body of the nutrition she needs to grow up.

I know I am the odd one out in this thinking.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

No, every shepherd gets to do what they think is best for their sheep. I have never had any trouble breeding early. I breed mine because there's no reason to have them if they can't have lambs for me. Mine continue to grow readily enough *but I have to feed them well*. No grass only if they are young and pregnant. I turned down a cotswold ewe lamb last year because they do need to wait to be bred. I don't have the accomodations for some bred ewes and some not bred and keeping away from the ram.


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## GoatGirl123 (Jan 23, 2014)

bergere said:


> Like my animals to mature before I ask them to lamb.
> I won't of wanted to breed my refined Finn ewe at 7 months, or even a year old.
> Want her bones and body to be fully developed, first, as the lambs will rob her body of the nutrition she needs to grow up.
> 
> I know I am the odd one out in this thinking.


Actually, although we don't always wait to breed does/ewes until they're full grown, we at least wait until they are eighteen months old so that when they give birth they'll be about at their full growth.


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 3, 2013)

We breed when they are yearlings. I personally would not breed a Shetland lamb, they are just too small and babyish. Your chances of having complications goes up a lot when they are lambing so young.

I wouldn't bother putting your ewe in with a ram until at least October. Shetlands generally have a short breeding season and my ewes don't go into heat until October.


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## Miret (Apr 27, 2014)

purplequeenvt said:


> We breed when they are yearlings. I personally would not breed a Shetland lamb, they are just too small and babyish. Your chances of having complications goes up a lot when they are lambing so young.
> 
> I wouldn't bother putting your ewe in with a ram until at least October. Shetlands generally have a short breeding season and my ewes don't go into heat until October.


I'm new to sheep (and new to the forum!). I have 3 mature ewes and a ram (and 5 lambs between the lot) shetlands for the most part (though two of the lambs look like the jacob the former owners had got in there with mom). Does this mean I don't have to separate the ram from the ewes? I've had a lot of conflicting advice on this.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

There are other reasons to seperate the ram besides breeding. I had to do it because the ram was pushing his gals off the feed, and they needed it more. It is also safer to work with the girls if the ram can't get to you.


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## GoatGirl123 (Jan 23, 2014)

@Miret, I really wouldn't recommend putting the ram with the ewes. You never know if they 'just might' get pregnant by accident.


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## GoatGirl123 (Jan 23, 2014)

@dlskidmore, you posted your message as I was typing, LOL. I totally agree with your reasoning too.


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 3, 2013)

Miret said:


> I'm new to sheep (and new to the forum!). I have 3 mature ewes and a ram (and 5 lambs between the lot) shetlands for the most part (though two of the lambs look like the jacob the former owners had got in there with mom). Does this mean I don't have to separate the ram from the ewes? I've had a lot of conflicting advice on this.



You don't have to separate them if you don't have the space. If I kept mine together, I'd probably pull the ram in August and then put him back in September/October.

Ram behavior is a concern with keeping your flock together. We have a large group of VERY well-behaved rams that I would have no issue putting any or all of them together with the ewes during the spring/summer. Most people do not have rams like this though. We spend a lot of time with our ram lambs teaching them how to behave so by the time they are mature breeding fellows we don't have aggression issues.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I prefer they be a full year. A lamb will not likely produce twins. A single is going to be bigger than a twin and you can loose it due to a difficult/long labor. Producing a child puts stress on the body and I think the mother should be finished growing herself before growing a child. I had one lamb born to a lamb and she was fine, but I&#8217;d rather just wait the extra year.


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## grandma12703 (Jan 13, 2011)

We don't breed ewe lambs, however I have always read that they need to have reached 85% of their mature weight before breeding the first time.


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## Miret (Apr 27, 2014)

purplequeenvt said:


> You don't have to separate them if you don't have the space. If I kept mine together, I'd probably pull the ram in August and then put him back in September/October.
> 
> Ram behavior is a concern with keeping your flock together. We have a large group of VERY well-behaved rams that I would have no issue putting any or all of them together with the ewes during the spring/summer. Most people do not have rams like this though. We spend a lot of time with our ram lambs teaching them how to behave so by the time they are mature breeding fellows we don't have aggression issues.


We've been working with our new five, though the first born ramlet here is a little too nudgy for my taste (he's learned I don't like him butting at my knees). How do we keep all the rams (even those we plan to wether) from getting aggressive?


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 3, 2013)

Miret said:


> We've been working with our new five, though the first born ramlet here is a little too nudgy for my taste (he's learned I don't like him butting at my knees). How do we keep all the rams (even those we plan to wether) from getting aggressive?


He needs to be halter trained and don't let him get away with pushy behavior. All attention/loving is on YOUR terms. You want to pet him, you catch him and hold him on your lap. You are busy and can't pay attention to him, push him away when he comes over. Never push on his head. I use my foot or my hand to shove on the chest (or side). Don't talk to him, just push him away. Eventually he'll get it.

Our rams have always grown up to be very respectful boys, even in the middle of breeding season. I think because there is a large group of them, they can work out their energy on each other instead of getting testy with us or being destructive to buildings.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

I agree with callieslamb as long as you feed them enough it is fine. I just had two lamb at a year old and both did it by themselves with no complications and only a little silliness about the lambs nursing (but that is any first time mama's problem not just yearlings). That being said they got free choice alfalfa and were well grained to maintain weight and allow them to continue growing with a lamb. I just bought a yearling who hadn't been bred (same breed) and she is in between my two size and weight wise and you couldn't tell who lambed and not. 

What I wouldn't do is
1) have them lambing before a year old (give or take a few weeks)
2) expect them to do it on low quality or limited feed
3) expect it to be less work because you need to be checking weight and adjusting grain amount often - I check every evening so I don't forget and miss a week. 
4) expect it to be totally free of problems - although most of my problems have been first time mama problems that would have happened if they were yearlings or 2 years.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

I bred my Southdown (not babydoll) as a ewe lamb and she lambed this spring as a yearling. She was of adequate size. She had a single ram lamb, on a very cold night. I came out in the morning to find a totally cleaned and dried lamb with a full belly. She was a textbook perfect mother. I would probably breed ewe lambs again, but they'd have to be of adequate size.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

Do you have a pregnancy weight gain chart, or do you mean body condition score?


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

I mostly use body condition score. You don't want to get them too fat but you also don't want to limit their growing.


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 3, 2013)

Can I just point out....the OP has a SHETLAND not a larger sheep like a Southdown, Romney, Border Leicester, etc. I have both Shetlands and Border Leicesters and there are some BLs that I would consider breeding as lambs. I would not, however, purposely breed my Shetlands as lambs. They are much slower growing than your more "commercial" breeds. My adult Shetlands are around 80 lbs and by October (when the Shetlands start cycling) my ewe lambs from that spring's lambing are only 30-40 lbs. Not nearly big enough IMO.


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