Interactive lesson

Tupping and lambing, step by step

Interactive lesson: from preparing ram and ewes, tupping and 147 days of pregnancy to lambing, colostrum and the chilled lamb.

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The whole lesson as text

1. Preparing ewes and ram

Lambing starts the summer before, when you get the ewes and the ram ready for tupping.

Condition and flushing — Ewes in condition 3–3.5. For three weeks before tupping and two after, give the best grazing or 0.2–0.3 kg of grain: twins are more likely.
Feet, teeth, udders — Trim the feet, check teeth and udders. A ewe with a lump in the udder, no teeth, or barren two years running leaves the flock.
Ram MOT — 6–8 weeks before the season check legs, feet, teeth and testicles: two, the same size, firm and springy, without lumps. A hired or borrowed ram comes with a health certificate and tests your vet asks for.
A ram is dangerous — In season he charges with his head from a run-up, without warning. Only an adult goes into a pen with a ram, with a stick, never turning their back, and children never.

Why: A thin ewe is harder to get in lamb, and a fat one lambs with more difficulty. A ram with hot or soft testicles is infertile, and half the flock stays empty.

One mature ram is roughly enough for 30–50 ewes, a young one for 15–20.
If the ewes haven’t seen or smelt a ram for at least 4 weeks, his arrival brings most of them into season within roughly 17–24 days.

2. Tupping

A ewe comes into season every 17 days, and the heat lasts only 1–1.5 days.

Signs of heat — The ewe stands by the fence towards the ram and follows him, stands still when you press on her back, wags her tail and eats less.
Raddling the ram — Fit the ram with a raddle harness and crayon on his chest. Every ewe he mounts gets a mark on her rump: write down every day which ewes are marked.
Darker after 17 days — After 17 days change to a darker colour. A ewe that gets the second colour too didn’t hold.
Scanning — A ewe that doesn’t return to heat is probably in lamb. You know for sure from a scan, roughly from day 40 to 90, which also shows the number of lambs.

Why: A ewe shows her heat weakly and briefly; often only the ram notices. When you know the tupping date for every ewe, you know her lambing date too.

Most British, Irish and North American breeds come into season as the days shorten, roughly from August to November.
Tup a young ewe when she reaches roughly 60–70 % of adult weight.