Why are they looking at me like that?

Author – Steve McCannon

Each morning from September 15 – October 5, our flock of ewes was waiting for me at the gate like this. Why? In their minds, it was only because they were anticipating being moved to a paddock of super-lush, highly nutritious summer grazing. Shortly after noon, their bellies were full and they were ready to come back to their night paddock and digest it all.

The grazing was seeded in early August, and we were blessed with some timely rain to have it at its peak point for this time. The ewes were already butterball fat and we had grass in the paddocks for the foreseeable future if we continued to be blessed with rain.

So why the extra work and expense especially in those hot days of August? Because the number of twins born is the largest factor impacting profitability of a sheep enterprise. So, we really like twins. Research has shown that elevating the nutrition plane of the ewes in the period just prior to breeding will increase twinning rate, so each morning they were moved to a paddock of high-quality summer annual grazing. In the evening, they enjoyed a snack of cracked corn and sweet feed to boost the energy level even more. The ram, Brutus, was moved in with the flock on October 1. Since the first part of sustainability is profitability, we are hoping to see many twins.

When do we see our first babies?