Cynthia Clark
Dr. Rincker
AGR 374
24 April 2015
Lazy Ewe Turnaround
I arrive on the site of Lazy Ewe Ranch, a small family operation with only fifty sheep.
The sheep are medium-sized, wooled sheep with a lamb crop less than one hundred percent.
Their current operation sells yearling meat lambs at the stockyards, where they are paid for by
weight only. This operation uses some genetic records, and they have very little idea of the
current breed of sheep and their pedigree. They do have scrapies tags for identification, and they
date back to two generations. While they know the maternal lineage of these two generations,
they do not know which ram fathered which lamb. They purchase three rams from a local farm
and keep them for three breeding seasons.
The market I am selling at buys yearling lambs based on weight only. Since this is how
they are purchased, an increased frame size and muscle deposition are desired. One short-term
goal I have is to increase lamb size. The heritability of yearling weight for sheep is 0.40. I desire
an increased lamb size because the stockyards pay by weight. I plan on purchasing large meat
rams to breed to my ewes. If I increase my lambs’ size by an average of ten pounds and lamb
meat is sold at roughly $7.50 a pound: (10 lbs)(7.5)(50 lambs) is equal to roughly $3,750
increase in income per year.
Another short-term goal I have is to transition to a hair breed of sheep. Since finding a
dual-purpose breed is nearly impossible, (larger meat breeds do not have the wool quality, while
wool breeds do not have the size) and the meat market is less risky, I plan on transitioning to hair
sheep. Since these lambs are used for meat, I would have to pay to have them sheared. In an
effort to save time and money, I will try to breed my current ewes to large, hair meat breeds,
such as Katahdins and Dorpers. The heritability of staple length is 0.50. After a few generations,
I should have hair sheep only, and will not have to worry about the timely and costly process of
shearing, as the sheep will shed on their own.
The only long term goal I have is to reach a lamb crop of one hundred and eighty percent.
This lamb crop goal is set at one hundred and eighty to account for lamb loss, and the occasional
single lamb. If an animal is capable of producing two, possibly three offspring for almost the
same nutritional demands as one offspring, why not try to take advantage of it? The more lambs
are born, the more meat can be taken to market. I will select a ram breed that is known for
throwing twins, and the occasional triplet, such as a Katahdin. When figuring the math, looking
at a one hundred and eighty percent lamb crop, this means that ninety lambs will be born. With
there being more lambs, it means that I can be more selective with which genetics I would like to
pass on to my future livestock.
The current breeding plan is to keep the top eighty percent of the ewes, and to cull the
rest, there is no defined system, but the ewes are chosen based on memory of performance. There
is no scale kept on the ranch, the lambs are eyeballed. Ewes are not watched during lambing, so
there is no lambing ease scale. The ewes are not nutritionally flushed prior to breeding, and are
not fed any grain during their lactation. Ewes are not monitored to see mothering ability. With
these poor practices, there is no reliable way to determine which ewes should be culled.
Selection intensity when the top eighty percent are kept is at 0.35.
A possible contributor to the unusually low lamb crop percent is the treatment of the
lambs themselves. The ewes are all kept in the same pen during lambing, and are not separated
from each other at all. This leads to confusion, and sometimes the lambs are not recorded to the
correct mothers. These lambs are not monitored to ensure that they have had a chance to nurse
within the twenty four hour period to obtain the colostrum they need for their immune systems.
In addition to this, the lambs are not given any vaccinations whatsoever.
The rams are switched out after three breeding seasons, and purchased from a local farm.
The rams are bought purely on an economic stance, cheap is considered better. These rams are
medium sized wooled breed. The rams are fed mostly grain, and are overweight. This is thought
to contribute to a lack of stamina on the rams’ part, and an overall reduced lamb crop. The
assumed selection intensity for these rams are at the top eighty percent. Selection intensity for
the rams is equal to 0.35.
The breeding plan I would like to instate includes keeping the top fifty percent of ewes.
Selection intensity would increase to 0.80. The ewes will be judged based on lamb size, number
of lambs born, mothering ability, fertility and ease of birthing. I will purchase a scale for lamb
weight, and keep record of who sired each lamb. I will continue to use Scrapies tags to identify
my sheep, and tag the lambs shortly after being born. The rams will wear breeding belts for easy
identification, as well as separating my ewes into three groups. This will increase the accuracy of
my records, by knowing which ram fathered which lambs. The virgin ewes will be bred to a
smaller ram, to try to prevent dystocia problems. The other two groups will be separated by
frame size, and the larger of the ewes will be bred to the biggest ram, and the smaller group will
be bred to a medium sized ram. Prior to breeding, the ewes will be nutritionally flushed. This
will help increase pregnancy rates, as well as potentially boosting the number of multiple births.
During lactation, the ewes will have some grain supplemented to prevent a loss of body
condition, and to be able to provide the lambs with all the required nutrients.
When the ewes begin to show signs of labor, they will be placed in a small pen by
themselves, called a jug. They will be monitored during the birthing process, and I will make
sure that the lambs receive their colostrum. This pen will also make it easy to identify which
lamb(s) belong to which ewe, and they can be tagged prior to being grouped together. These jugs
will also help determine the mothering ability of the ewe. In addition to all this, the lambs will be
vaccinated with CD/T and Bo-Se to prevent common illnesses.
The rams will be changed out every year, and will be chosen for their performance
record and genetics, at the top twenty five percent of their breed. Selection intensity will increase
to 1.27. The rams I am selecting are from JM Katahdins. The owners of JM Katahdins are
members of the Katahdin Breeder’s Association, and are listed on their website as a reputable
farm, and provider of genetic material. They have been bred for parasite resistance, a high
twinning/triplet rate, highly muscled, growth on pasture, and large frame size. While on Lazy
Ewe Ranch, these rams’ diet will consist mostly of forages, but will have limited grain
supplement when breeding. These rams are being chosen for three main reasons. The increased
lamb size will result in more meat available to take to the stockyards. The hair genes will cut out
shearing costs, and save time. Finally, the twinning/triplet rate will increase, meaning more
lambs will be taken to market.
Overall, the breeding plan I plan on instating will result in larger lambs, who, over time,
will be hair sheep with a high twinning/triplet rate. In addition to improved genetics, the
environmental effects will also positively improve genetic change. With maintaining genetic
records properly, culling decisions can be made fairly and wisely With these new policies put
into effect, the rate of genetic change will increase.