Puberty (sexual maturity) The age of puberty is influenced by breed, genetics, size (weight), nutrition, and season of birth. Most ewe lambs reach puberty between 5 and 12 months of age.
Lambs are less than 12 months old. Adult sheep are 12 months and older. Adult females are called ewes.
Yearling lamb — a young sheep between 12 and 24 months old.
'How can you tell when a sheep is in labour?'
Restless standing up and lying down. Pawing at the ground – scratching up a soft 'nest' for the lamb to be born into. Visible straining at regular intervals. Visible mucus, water bag or a pair of feet protruding from the ewe's back end!
Teg – a sheep in its second year. Also hogget, old-season lamb, shearling.
Hogget' refers to animals between 1-2 years old, and is a delicious combination of tender lamb and full-flavoured mutton. Hogget can be cooked hot and quick like lamb, or low and slow – anywhere in between and it might toughen up.
Hoggets Hoggets are older than weaners but not yet adults. They are like teenagers. Wethers Wethers are adult male sheep used for wool production, but not for breeding. Ewes Ewes are mature adult female sheep who produce wool and lambs.
The notion behind this practice is that ewe lambs can undergo puberty and achieve oestrus between the age of 7 – 10 months, yet despite this, the majority of ewes are not bred until they are two-teeth or 18 – 20 months of age.
A ram that is kept with ewes is likely to be overfed, as a ram does not require as concentrated a diet as pregnant and lactating ewes. Some rams may be too aggressive to be kept with pregnant ewes. In less developed countries, they have a created an "apron" to prevent rams from impregnating ewes during comingling.
Pregnancy is generally 150 days (five months). The majority of foetal growth occurs in the final 60 days; however, setting up effective nutrient transfer from the ewe to the foetus occurs with udder and placental development in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Slaughter: Lambs
The majority of sheep killed in Australia are lambs, slaughtered around 6 – 8 months of age. Sheep can naturally live up to 20 years, with a typical lifespan of 10-12 years. Every year an average of 22.72 million lambs are slaughtered.
Bummer lambs are those that have either been rejected or couldn't be fed by their mothers. They come from a variety of situations. Most often, bummers are the smallest lambs in a group of triplets, though sometimes their mother may have died or otherwise not be able to feed the lamb.
Identifying An Ewe: Physical Characteristics
Ewes will lack the obvious male genitalia, and the horns will be much smaller if present. Female sheep also have two teats, which rams do not have. These teats are present and recognizable from birth, and female lambs are easier to identify.
Slaughter. Most lambs/sheep are slaughtered at 10 weeks to 6 months, though some may be 14 months old. Find out about some of the key welfare issues for sheep.
HOGGET (11 months to 24 months old)
For years there has been very little definition of when lamb is no longer lamb and when it is something else. Everyone has heard of mutton, but hogget? Simply put, hogget is a juvenile sheep either a young ewe or tup over 11 months old to 24 months.
While their natural lifespan is about 15 years, lambs raised at factory farms are slaughtered at around six to eight months of age. Yes, that's right—all lambs killed for food are just babies. Mother sheep are deeply caring and form strong bonds with their babies.
My advice is to leave the ram with the ewes after the official breeding season has ended, at least up to lambing. He will graze with them and in the winter, he will eat hay with them. No need to add extra work to house a ram separately at that time.
A Ram should have a companion. Sheep are flock animals, and should never be left alone. It is advisable to own more than one ram.
It is possible to breed ewes more often than once a year when a number of factors are favorable. The ewes must be capable of breeding in the spring, fall, and winter. Adequate buildings, equipment, and feed must be available to handle ewes and lambs during the entire year.
Pregnant women who come into close contact with sheep during lambing, or other farm animals that are giving birth, may put themselves and their unborn child at risk of contracting an infectious disease sometimes carried by these pregnant farm animals.
Sheep belong to the genus Ovis and have 54 chromosomes, while goats belong to the genus Capra and have 60 chromosomes. The offspring of a sheep–goat pairing is generally stillborn. Despite widespread shared pasturing of goats and sheep, hybrids are very rare, demonstrating the genetic distance between the two species.
Development of sexual behavior. In California, most ram lambs are weaned at about 3 months of age and isolated from females until they are used for breeding at approximately 18 to 20 months.
The most intensive form of accelerated lambing is twice a year lambing whereby a ewe would produce two lamb crops per year. Twice a year lambing has the potential to maximize lamb production, but may not be practical under most commercial situations. Twice a year lambing is probably most common near the equator.
When lambs are born, they have four pairs of baby or “milk” teeth. When they are approximately one year old, the middle pair will be replaced by a pair of permanent incisors. When they are two years old, they will have two pairs of permanent incisors. By age 4, they will have four pairs of permanent incisors.
Double Diamond is a Texel sheep that just broke the world record for price sold. A sheep sold for a record 350,000 guineas – or around $490,000 in American money – at an auction in Scotland this week.