Sheep Gestation Calculator

[Jessika]

I put our young ram in with the ewes on october 31st. Do I just count 5 months or anyone have an earliest lambing date for that?
I noticed the older ewe definitely looks pregnant today and is building an udder--the other ewe is so darn big and wooly I cant tell!
Assuming I could have lambs from march 31st on. Is there anything I should be doing now? Anyone have a good book recommendation? This will hopefully be my first lambing and should be good timing as the cows arent due to start calving again until June. I'm so excited!
Jessika

[Rodie Todie]

October 31st would get you a March 25th lamb. Here is a chart...
www.tvsp.org/gestation.html
I like to "crotch" (clip the wool around the rear, and around the legs to make nursing easier) and vaccinate the ewes 2-3 weeks pre lambing to get the lambs the passive immunity. Good Luck! We are about 10 days out here.

[elnini]

Have a safe pen to put the ewe and lamb in case you need to be able to handle them, or give them time to bond.

"Running a Small Flock of Sheep" by David G. Hinton.

Written for Australian conditions, but the health advice is sound wherever you are.

Enjoy the lambs :-)

[Jessika]

Thanks you guys! I'll keep you updated when/if I get lambs. I plan to milk these sheep and make cheese! Where's the dancing sheep smiley ;D

[williamsbrookfarm]

Another good book that we use is Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep
Have you vaccinated the ewes with anything?

[Jessika]

No I havent but I have some Covexin 8 in the fridge. The library has storeys guide. I need to set up a little lambing pen in the barn.

[fcemsoff]

Ewes can deliver live lambs anywhere from 140-154 days with 146-147 days being average.

[uddervu]

Jess...be careful with Covexin...it causes abcesses--a lot of goat breeders stopped using it. I have Colorado Serum CDT if you need

[Jessika]

Thanks Chris!