Getting Ready For Tupping Season
It’s coming to the time of year where sheep farmers everywhere are thinking about the mating season for their flocks.
Management Pre-Tupping
Although there is a huge variety in the systems and processes used by each farm, most farmers begin to start checking the condition of their ewes in September ensuring they are at the target body score; not too fat or too thin. Body condition scoring works by feeling over the back and loin of the sheep and rating them from 1 to 5; with 1 being the thinnest and 5 the fattest. At breeding time, most farmers aim for their ewes to be scoring between 2.5 and 3.5 depending on their environment. Ewes that are too fat or thin are unlikely to conceive and raise lambs successfully; at this time of year some farmers bring in new ewes at this time of the year.
Mineral Blocks & Nutrition
FMineral blocks such as these from Rumenco offer a convenient yet effective way of supplementing the flock’s diet in order to improve fertility, general health and growth.
Is Your Lamb Ready?
It’s vital to ensure your ram has proven fertility; letting an older ram cover the majority of the ewes and using a ram lamb on a smaller number of ewes to see if he’s a good sire for future years is a sensible bet to ensure a successful breeding season. But as well as guaranteeing fertility, it’s important to ensure he is in good physical shape; especially his feet which should be checked for rot, infection or stiffness as he has a busy few weeks coming up! Unlike the ewes, the ram can have a slightly higher body condition score of around 4 (although not fat) as rams can lose as much as 15% of their body score during the mating season.
Tupping
In October, most farmers put the ewes out with the rams for mating or tupping as it often referred to. The use of raddle (either as a block or a harness, or simply smeared on their chest) helps to ensure the ram is working effectively, the ewes are cycling and to help predict lambing date. The usual practice is to change the colour of the raffle after approximately 17 days to see which ewes have been mated with. It’s vital to check the raddle harness on the ram regularly to check for signs of rubbing – the Nettex Leather Anti Chaff Harness is designed for comfort and strength which can securely hold most crayon brands. We stock a range of Agrimark sheep raddle powders, as well as Nettex Crayons in a variety of colours.
For more information on the products featured in this article, or any other farming products that you may be interested in, please contact Lillico’s Country Store on 01622 718062 or Attlee’s Country Store on 01306 884289.
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