Pregnancies confirmed!!
23/12/2020
Tim came out of the cows at the end of September having been in with them for about 3 months. The cows cycle (called bulling) about every 3 weeks at which time they are fertile (for a brief few hours!), so he had plenty of opportunity. Before he was taken out there were no more signs of ‘bulling’ indicating they were all pregnant but it was reassuring to have it confirmed by the vet. Cows are pregnant for an average of 283 days (give or take a few days). We therefore expect to start calving around the 25th of March, just as we finish lambing. We only have 12 breeding cows so hopefully it will be fairly straightforward……!
The girls just back from being scanned – don’t think they were impressed!
As Tim came out from his girls, Trevor (the ram) went in with his for a couple of months (end September to beginning December). The ewes were scanned just before Christmas, it is very like opening presents as they go through the scanner and come out with different coloured marks indicating whether they are empty, having singles, twins or triplets……..we waited with baited breath!!
Blue dots are single lambs, red dots twins and green dots triplets
Was great news as we have many more twins and triplets than last year, our percentage went up from 113% to 204%, which basically means instead of 65 lambs we are expecting 104 – will be a busy time, especially with so many triplets which potentially can be a bit more difficult. We also only had 2 empty ewes instead of 6 which we have had 2 years running. We put these better numbers down to giving the ewes a mineral bolus earlier in the year and also being on better grass running up to Trevor going in with them. Trevor went in end of September and sheep are pregnant for around 147 days, taking us to 22nd February expected start date.