Sheep with triplets?

Question

Two qns:

How common is it for crossbreds to have more than two lambs? We have some older crossbred ewes which are crossed with merino and something else possibly border leicter. They have Long thin noses and they are large sheep, what could they be crossed with?

Answer 1

The lambing percentage of a ewe (how many lambs they have each time they lamb) is around 1.6 lambs per ewe depending on breed. The fact the ewe might be pure-bred or cross-bred does not matter.

However some breeds have a much higher lambing percentage than others. We have tried to increase the number of lambs each ewe was having by crossing them with East Friesland sheep. These sheep a very high lambing percentage and quads would not be too uncommon. This breed also have plenty of milk to keep the lambs healthy.

What we found is although East Friesland might have 3 or 4 lambs easily enough, they are not good mothers. We have foxes in the wood beside the house and this breed would not protect the lambs. Also, they are a poor sheep for meat and have poor feet.

What we found aswell was when we had pure-bred or cross-bred East Friesland ewes and crossed them with Polled Dorset or Charolais, the ram lambs put weight on very easily. However the ewe lambs were poor when compaired to other breeds.

I think, that although you may want to increase the lambing percentage, you'd be better off with a ewe that would be a good mother and would mind the lamb's that she'd have.

As regards to the second question, it all depends what your looking for in the lamb. If your looking for ewe lambs that you will be breeding from, I've found Polled Dorset is a great all rounder. They both breed good ewe lambs which will be good for breeding from a good ram lambs which can easily be sold because their meat is very tender.

Other breed's I've found to be quite good to cross with border leister's are Charolais, Charmoise, Bleu du Main.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

hampshire

Answer 3

The dangers of uncareful breeding must be highlighted and danger falling into 4 is real because of sister birth from late 50s,60s,70s,80s and even 90s.

Answer 4

Triplets usually run from 4% to 10%.  It depends a lot on the breed of the sheep in the cross breeding.  Your Merino cross tends to have more multiple births than average.

Answer 5

I've been breeding goats & sheep since 1995.  I've found crossbreds do not have any more multiple births than the purebreds.  They do however produce larger, and more hardy lambs and kids.

Producing multiple births seems to run stongly in some individual ewes and does.  The exception being sheep breeds, like the Finn AKA Finnish sheep, where they all seem to produce high numbers of lambs.

Over the years I have found producing more than twins for a sheep or goat to be an UNDESIRABLE trait.  More often than not, you end up loosing one or more of the lambs/kids.  They also require more care, since they are born smaller, and have to compete for the milk, since most ewes/does have only two t***s.  One baby almost always looses out, and dies of pnuemonia

It would be almost impossible to tell you what breed/s your sheep might be, without examining them in person, or at the very least seeing very good photos of them.

The larger sheep are often wool breeds.  Do they seem to have extra, or baggy skin?  This is to allow more surface area to grow wool, and they are probably a wool cross breed.  Do they seem quiet rectangular and muscular in their body, carring a lot of muscling and meat?  Probably a meat type breed, or a wool/meat cross.

Do they flock together quiet tightly?  Most of the wool breeds have much tighter flocking instincts, and like to group together closely.

If you are concidering breeding them, think about what you want.  Do you want the wool?  Then breed to a quality wool ram.  Do you want white wool, or do you want colored wool?  Make sure your ram of choice has the correct genes for either colored babies, or white babies.

Do you want meat?  Then investigate the hair sheep breeds, and get away from the wool.  It will take three, or four generations, before you no longer have to shear.

Personally I find shearing to be a pain, with little return for my effort.  There simply is not a strong market for the wool.  I do keep a couple of angora goats for my own personal fiber desires.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 6

I don't think it necessarily matters that they are crossbred as far as multiple lambs go. It matters more the age and breed of the ewe as well as the ewe's personal history. Some breeds, as mentioned, have a stronger tendency towards multiples. The older a ewe (or cow, or human) gets the more likely they are to have multiples, just as they are more likely to have abnormalities. My 7 year old doe just had triplets in June. She is raising all 3 kids without a supplemental feeding for any of them, btw. It is not desirous to have more than two because most sheep or goats cannot handle more and cannot make that much milk. They do only have two teats and if they have anymore than that, they are not working teats. The only way to tell what your crossbreeds are would be to see a picture of them. I suggest you look at a site listing various breeds and see if you can figure it out. It may be difficult though, I still have no idea what my goats are! Good Luck!