ewe lambs with twins

eorna

have few ewe lambs scanned twins, do people here remove one lamb or let the ewe lamb rear 2?, thinking 2 will be too hard on them and will stunt growth of ewe and her lambs, while they'll be grand with 1.....not sure though..

rancher

eorna wrote: »

have few ewe lambs scanned twins, do people here remove one lamb or let the ewe lamb rear 2?, thinking 2 will be too hard on them and will stunt growth of ewe and her lambs, while they'll be grand with 1.....not sure though..

I leave them with them and feed them well,put out a creep feeder to take some of the pressure, even at that most of them have singles the following year, I don't want pets either!!!!

errisshooter

Couldnt agree more with Rancher iam a firm believer of lamb ewe's lambing in there first year just select an easy lambing ram and feed them well they can finish two lambs better than a 3yr old ewe and they will lamb with easy next year.,

Farmer Pudsey

Put them in a bunch by themself and give them some ration if you have very good grass they may be ok you could also put any ewes with triplets in this bunch if you cannot foster them as the will be easy to watch just watch ewe lams in case they reject one or pick up an extra

5live

Good grass and plenty of it and a bit of ration. Handle them every week to make sure they arent losing condition and a bit of creep feeding too as was suggested before. I wouldnt worry about their size for next year. If they are big enough to go in lamb as lambs and have twins they will be plenty big and strong enough to go back in lamb next autumn.

Mark and keep any ewe lambs off them though. They will have a better chance of going in lamb and having twins again next autumn if kept as replacements

Highland

They need to get priority access to grass (5cm+) & also concentrates. Feed them 1kg per head per day for 1st 3 weeks after lambing and 1/2 kg per head per day for next two weeks. stop feeding once they reach 6 weeks. Put a creep feeder in with lambs and wean the ewes at 10 - 12 weeks to give them an extra chance to build up condition. Don't overdo drying off. 7 - 10 days of bare pasture followed by the second best grass on the farm until tupping should ensure that their subsequent performance is not compromised.

snowman707

it's 17 Degrees C outside just now , lambs will thrive on much less nourishment in these conditions than ones born last January

good advise given above, we wean them a little earlier than norm mainly because we want to get the mother into the early lambing flock on her third crop.