Udder update

Tuesday we got our first good look at how the ewes' udders are developing. Because of all their wool, it is hard to see what's going on "down there" when the ewes are standing. But Tuesday everyone got a pedicure, a vaccination, and a dose of wormer. To give a sheep a shot under their skin, you first have to find a spot with no wool. We flip them and set them up on their rumps so we can access the wool-less patch of skin under the front leg. Sheep in this position are quite docile and if you keep them at just the right angle, they are not able to get up, which makes it much easier to do whatever you need to do. This position also makes their feet accessible for a quick hoof trim. And, it provides a sneak peak of the developing mammary system. I love dairy cows, but just try doing that to an 1800-lb Holstein! Or a crazy Angus....that's one reason we have stuck with sheep!

I counted 43 ewes that had good udders. I'm not thrilled with that, it's only 81% of the ewes that were marked by the rams, but it's better than last year when we had a lot of yearlings and not a lot of lambs. And there's still a chance that some of the ewes that have never lambed and are due later will still end up being bred. The most disturbing thing is that the ewes that aren't showing any udder development yet are about evenly split between the groups that were with Thorne and with Bruce and Dalton (oh yeah, I decided to call the new Suffolk ram Dalton). That disturbs me because Thorne is usually very effective, typically 100% of his marks lead to lambs. I will have to see if I can think of any other explanations, but right now I suspect that Thorne is going to have to be replaced. He is 7 years old and may be past his prime. Bruce has not been as effective, and he's on my black list too, he's a young ram who should be at his peak. So we may be making some changes in our ram battery this year (can you call 3 rams a battery?).

Still, 43 ewes due to lamb means we're looking at nearly 80 lambs this year, so that's exciting!