Lucky Lads

So its tupping time.


And the sequence of events ( what could possibly go wrong ??):

 Get  the ewes from the field they are grazing in

  to somewhere where you  can separate off the lucky girls.

And then you need to get them penned

And as we are putting different rams to different  groups then you need to separate them and transport them to do the field where he is going  to do the business.

  
and put the group in the field

 And then you need to get  the ram.

  and then  you need to apply raddle (the oily stuff ) to their chest

 and then you introduce him to the ladies

 where he will go and find the ewes who are in season

and job  done !!

what could go wrong ?

Well. nothing actually.


 

Raddled and ready

So we have caught the lucky lad and brought him down from the field. he didn't co-operate -  he clearly didn't know what was expected of him, from the move . And liberally applied raddle to his front.

And we have also separated out the ewes and moved them to a convenient field. They were given some additional minerals ( a drench, as Orkney soil is low in Cobalt and Selenium). A FEC( faecal egg count) showed they didnt need worming.


And the next step is to put the ram in with the ewes. Ewes come to season about every 13-19 days with an average of 17. So the ram will go round sniffing the ewes to recognise when they are fertile



If the ewe isn't fertile, and therefore not interested she will walk  (run) away , so there is a bit of chasing going on initially and the ram tries his luck

And if the ewe is in season, or she isn't quick enough, the signs are there for all to see. 

Once the ewe is pregnant , she will ignore the 'approaches' of the ram.  We change the colour of the raddle in a couple of weeks . If one of them wasn't successfully impregnated first time round  and the ram had to try again , we can spot it. 

And if the ram does the business first time round and with a 147 day gestation the calculators mean we are lambing on 8th May 2016 ( with a range from 29th April to 20th May) 

Fraser gets his chance

So the time has come ,and Fraser , the Gotland ram, has been let out of the barn and into the field  with the Gotland eyes.  He was raddled  before being let into the field.













Anyway he was clearly keen  as he spotted the ewes  higher up the field .

Sadly they didnt seem to be as keen  as he followed them round the field.