# Cold Weather Lambing



## PA Katahdins (Oct 8, 2008)

Decided to try lambing in the middle of the winter this year with half my ewes for selling market lambs in spring. First ewe to finally drop was this yearling which had the black and white ram lamb pictured with her. :bouncy: They are purebred katahdins, 1 down and 21 to go with more snow and cold on the way.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Way cute. I was thinking about getting rid of my sheep....but then I would miss the LAMBS!!


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

For Momma, is that how long her wool gets? When did you shear her? I'm not familiar with Katahdins.


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## houndlover (Feb 20, 2009)

My lambing starts mid Dec and ends mid Feb. You have to stay on top of them in the cold, but I make it easier on myself by penning up the ewes in a very small pasture (1 acre), and checking on them several times a day. At night they go under cover. It's a challenge to lamb in snow and freezing temps, but generally, the moms get them dry and up quickly, and they don't seem worse for the experience. My winter born lambs always grow faster than those born later in spring.


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## PA Katahdins (Oct 8, 2008)

Went out this evening to find another yearling ewe with a ram lamb beside her. This one is all white with a reddish brown set of ears and patch on his face and neck. Sure hope the girls don't keep this trend of all ram lambs up.

Ernie, you don't need to shear katahdins as they are a hair breed so they shed off their wool every spring. But yes, thats about all the longer her wool will grow, but it keeps her plenty warm from what I have seen.

Houndlover, this is my first year of lambing in the middle of winter so I will see how it goes. Would be nice if the lambs grew quick so I could possibly hit the easter market. The ewes that are to lamb within the next 2 weeks I have inside in their own area because we have so much pressure from coyotes I don't want to lose any and so I can keep an eye on them better with these cold temps and snow. I can see why they would grow faster though since they dont go through the summer slump spring lambs do once temperatures soar.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

I've had two lambs born so far this winter but only one made it. The little black male didn't have the gumption to find the teat on his own so he didn't make it through the first night.

So far the little female is doing great at about a week old. She's a spritely little thing and with a huge appetite. She was out following momma in a howling windstorm today. Windchill dipped well below zero and they just set up camp up along the treeline with no issues whatsoever. I'm bringing them down to the lower pasture where the barn is of an evening to protect from coyotes and cougar, but the cold ain't bothering her. She's a Lincoln-Rambouillet cross. 

I think an August/September breeding was a bit out of season (the shameless hussy) but I don't see where it's caused me any problems.


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## PA Katahdins (Oct 8, 2008)

She sounds like a hardy little girl, too bad both of them didnt make it. This is my second try at lambing in winter, with this being the first successful one. Last year I tried to breed for lambing in february but none of my girls got bred, not sure why but they did end up lambing for me in april.

Ernie, out of season breeding capabilities is something I am going to try and select for in my best ewes so hopefully I can lamb my mature ewes this time of the year and my ewe lambs in april. Woke up this morning to 6 more lambs running around in the barn, 2 of them also being black with a couple white spots on them and the other 4 being white with brown spots. 

Favorite time of the year for me is always lambing season waiting to see what the lambs will come out like. My main stud ram is black and white which is where I am getting the black gene and my ewes are mostly all brown with a few white ones mixed in. Good luck to all who are lambing now.


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

We started lambing in October, and we're still lambing. We had twin ewe lambs born a few days ago, Katahdin/Dorper cross, pitch black. We've had one singleton, two sets of twins, and a set of triplets so far this year, 5 ewe lambs and 3 ram lambs. We're set up for winter lambing, but we have three flocks that we breed at different times of the year, all hair sheep so they all breed year round, so we get lambs year 'round.
Cute baby too!


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

My problem with having winter babies is the feeding of said babies. I lamb and keep them close for 1 week feeding hay and keeping an eye on the youngsters, then out to pasture they go. I work the moms off hay and then make a creep for the babies (not a lot of space here so.....). Essentally they eat mostly grass and a little bit of hay. People around here pay the same amount of Easter lamb (and they only want one cut for easter.....) as they do for fall lamb...........


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

I have to feed hay already here in northern Illinois, so that's not really an issue for me. I put out one bale every 2-3 days for 5 sheep. It'll get to be a pain when I finally get my flock up to the 20 or so I'm planning on, but for now it's not a huge aggravation.

I keep the ram with the ewes year round. I have an old one (who doesn't seem to have done any breeding this year) and a young one (who never wants to stop breeding but is a real pain to deal with). I'm going to have to find me another ram this year and eat the problem one. The old one I'll probably keep, even though he's turning out to be a useless eater. He's very mild-mannered and easy to deal with and having him around changed the entire management of the flock. He's the alpha, so to speak, and he'll go wherever you want if you just show him a bucket. All the others follow him. Plus he doesn't seem to allow any flock drama. Any time there's any problems at all he jumps in the middle of it and settles things down. I guess he's worth his hay if he makes things easier for me.

There is no breeding program here, per se, just a natural flock being kept together. Males and females. There's no time of year when a lamb wouldn't be a welcome sight.


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## leon (Dec 24, 2008)

Oh, oh!! (jumps up and down) Our Kats been dropping year around for many years!!! 
Oh, wait ... we're in Florida... that figures.  

Congrats on your success! Lambs do fly out in spring ... (we won't be selling anything under 100 lbs anymore though ... just doesn't make sense money-wise. YMMV, of course.) 

P.S. We like a lot that little gadget from Premier that will turn on your heat lamp when temperature inside drops to about 34F - just in case you didn't happen to come across it yet


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