Sheep puberty and mating characteristics, insemination methods
Raising sheep is one of the most profitable branches of the livestock business. If properly managed, breeding and raising these animals can be profitable. For successful activity, you need to know the timing and rules for mating sheep, how to choose and prepare a sheep and a ram for mating, how to care for a pregnant female and a newborn lamb.
Sheep reproductive age
Female sheep reach sexual maturity by 7 months, but this is an approximate time, as this age can be different depending on the breed. However, even if the animal has already theoretically reached puberty, it is still impossible to happen, since its body is not yet capable of normally carrying a lamb. It can happen when the female becomes older than 1 year, her weight will be at least 40-45 kg. In rams, sexual maturity occurs at 5-7 months. But, like the female, the male can be used for breeding later, when he is 16-18 months old.
So, a sheep can happen from 1 year old, a ram from 1.5 years old. In this case, animals should be normally developed and moderately well-fed.
Sheep selection rules
Age has already been mentioned, but it is also important to take into account the mass of animals, females should not be thin or, conversely, obese. Both those and others do not feel the desire to mate, they can remain single or bring a weak offspring.
Sheep of many breeds come to hunt during a certain period of the year, which lasts from late summer to mid-winter.
Animals of the Romanov breed can be found throughout the year. Usually females hunt for 2-3 days, it is at this time that they need to be allowed to approach the male. It is possible to determine the readiness of sheep for mating by behavior - they worry, bleat, calmly relate to the ram, as well as physiological signs: swelling and redness of the genitals, mucus flowing out of them, at first transparent and liquid, then cloudy and thick. If fertilization does not occur after mating, the female comes back to hunt in 16-20 days.
The subtleties of ram selection
The ram must be young, strong, healthy, well-fed. It is these individuals that actively reproduce. How well he will be able to inseminate sheep depends on the conditions in which he is kept, how he was looked after. During the preparation for the mating season, the ram must be properly fed, the diet must necessarily contain foods rich in vitamins and minerals.
If the male is active, he is considered ready for mating. If there are many sheep on the farm, 10-20 females can be allocated for one ram.
Insemination methods
Sheep can be inseminated naturally or artificially.The first of these is used almost exclusively in the household.
Natural
The mating should be carried out either during the day, and at night, take the sheep away from the ram, or, conversely, leave the female with the male for the night and take it back in the morning. There are several options for natural insemination:
- Cool mating. For 30-40 days, rams are put into the flock of sheep (for 100 females, 2-3 rams). The animals are left together during the daytime, the rams are removed at night.
- Free mating. The ram is kept together with the females, the animals mate for a long time. The disadvantage of this method is that the sheep can remain idle.
- Harem mating. The method is used in livestock breeding. For 30-40 sheep, 1 male is selected. He is kept with females only during the day, at night they are removed from them and fed with nutritious food.
- Manual mating. Sheep happen to rams only when they are in the hunt. This increases the fertility rate. The rest of the time the male is separate from the females.
As you can see, you can choose any of these methods, if the number of individuals in the domestic herd allows. With natural manual mating, sheep breed most successfully, rarely remaining single.
Artificial
Artificial reproduction is a method in which not a ram is used to inseminate sheep, but sperm, which is introduced into the vagina of females using a special device. The advantage of this method is that less seed material is consumed than in natural reproduction, since both pure and diluted semen can be used. In artificial propagation, it is important to observe sterility, seed dosage and procedure rules.
Calculation of lambing time and methods of acceleration / deceleration of hunting
Hunting begins in sheep when the germ cells in the ovaries mature. Its duration depends on the seasonality, health status of the animal, its age and breed. The duration ranges from 0.5 to 3 days. Ovulation occurs 30 to 32 hours after estrus begins. Usually, it is not always possible to accurately establish the beginning of the hunt, therefore it is recommended to happen the sheep 2 times: as soon as signs of estrus appear and in a day. This is usually enough for fertilization to occur.
To accelerate the onset of sexual heat, the sheep should be left in a darkened room for 2-3 hours for several weeks in a row. Thanks to this method, animals can come into the hunt 1-1.5 months earlier than they should be in season.
For a more effective acceleration, as well as for inhibition of the process, hormonal preparations are used. They are used together with vitamins and bovine colostrum.
Preparing for lambing
Sheep gestation lasts 143-153 days. Animals usually happen in the fall, so that the lambs are born in the spring, when it will already be warm and green grass. 2-3 days before lambing, the udder and genitals swell in the female, the belly hangs a little. Just before giving birth, the female begins to dig the litter.
Sheep birthing process
Sheep give birth to 1 to 3 lambs. If the animal is healthy and childbirth takes place without complications, no help is needed. However, it is advisable for a veterinarian to be present at the time of delivery in case of problems or complications. It is not always possible to help an animal on its own; this requires knowledge and certain experience.
Lambing lasts no more than 1 hour. If there are more than one lambs, the interval between them is about 10-15 minutes. The afterbirth comes out 0.5-3 hours after the appearance of the last lamb, it must be removed along with the bedding and disposed of.If more than 6 hours have passed and the afterbirth has not come out, you need to contact your veterinarian. As soon as the lamb is born, you need to clear his nose of mucus and, if the mother has not gnawed the umbilical cord, cut it off with sterile scissors at a distance of 10 cm from the lamb's belly, treat with iodine. After that, the female should lick the lamb.
After the end of childbirth, you need to give the mother warm water, you can feed her after 4-9 hours. You also need to make sure that the lamb drinks colostrum within the first hour after birth (the first portion must be expressed, this colostrum is too fat). Then remove the newborn from the mother and bring it to her only for feeding (in the first days with an interval of 3 hours).
Newborn care
Within a week after lambing, you need to observe the female, make sure that the uterus is cleansed, and there are no complications, which include infections, for example, postpartum paresis.
If the lamb does not have enough milk for all the lambs that have appeared, they need to be fed with the milk of another female or, in extreme cases, with cow's milk. Cow's milk is more liquid, so it will need more than sheep's milk. Sheep feed babies with milk for 3 months, young animals, if they grow in good conditions, get plenty of milk, grow quickly and gain weight. When the lambs are 3 weeks old, you can start feeding them with the food that adult animals eat.
Breeding and raising sheep can be profitable if done right. Mating, pregnancy and childbirth of sheep are not the last in the livestock process. The success and profitability of sheep breeding depends on how and when the mating is carried out, how the care of the pregnant animals will be organized and how the birth will take place.
With good care, every healthy sheep can produce lambs 1-2 times a year. Considering that from one individual you can get 1-3 lamb in each lamb, the animals will quickly pay off and the farm will become profitable.
