Another writing prompt for Bloganuary is “What could you do differently?” The first thought I have as a sheep farmer is if I could go back to when I started would be to cull differently.
I did not have money to go and purchase really nice, registered Dorper ewes from another sheep farmer. I started my sheep farm by purchasing ewes from the nearby livestock auction. Not a sheep auction as it was not built until three years after I started. At the small livestock auction, sometimes there would be a good number of sheep to select from and sometimes only one or two. To be honest, when you are purchasing 3 and 4 year old ewes from a livestock auction, these ewes are some sheep farmers culls. I was starting my sheep farm with culls. Granted I did not pay much for them.
Not all the ewes I purchased in the beginning were bad. I had one ewe that was ugly, but she produced twins every six months, and her lambs grew quickly. But she was ugly to look at and had to be sheared as her hair wool would not shed. Another black ewe, produced twins every eight months. A good purchase for $85.00.
But there were several ewes that did not produce at all. One ewe would go through bouts of being wormy. It was hard to get rid of the worms regardless of what dewormer I used and how often I dewormed her. I worked to get her healthy and presentable to sell. After two years, she produced a lamb and I sold them together hoping to regain my initial purchase price. The cost of dewormer, feed and time I did not recoup.
I became so exhausted with treating ewes and waiting for ewes to produce lambs, I started buying ewe lambs to raise up to be ewes. I had much better results from these purchases. Although there was more money involved as I had to feed the ewe lambs until they were old enough to breed. Most of the ewe lambs I purchased did not have the health problems I had experienced previously.
Today, I cull much stricter than I did pervious years. If a ewe does not produce, regardless what I paid for her, she goes. I cut the losses of feed and care waiting for her to produce a lamb then sell. I purchased a set of three young ewes from the Duncan show in 2022. One of the three, produced a lamb three weeks later, and then produced another lamb 8 months later. We sold her at Duncan in 2023. Her sale price recouped what I had paid for all three ewes, plus I had the sale of her first lamb. A second ewe produced this fall. The third ewe has not produced and will be sold this month. The three years had ear tags with very similar numbers. I would confuse which ewe had produced and which one had not. So I marked the last two years with two different colors of paint. The one with red paint did not produce, she is to be sold.
Two other guides for culling are slow growth weight of the lambs from birth to weaning, and any health problems. I want the market lambs to be sold quickly so I am not feeding them long. I want lambs that are healthy to save on time and expense.
Currently, my ewes all lamb without assistance, are dewormed once a year regardless if they need it or not, and have lambs that weigh 60 to 65 pounds at ten weeks of age. The results of learning to cull and being strict about culling.
Granny
Granny's Homestead 