Yes, my search for a handsome, well bred Black Welsh Mountain ram has been successful. After many phone calls and endless hours on the internet, I managed to find a flock that I liked the look of. The plus side was that it was in the West Country so no long journeys to Wales where some of the best flocks exist – of course. In fact, one of the best rams I saw was in north Wales but the cost of diesel was going to be more than the price of the ram, so that idea got kicked into touch straight away.
We gathered in the two flocks, and went through every ewe with a fine tooth comb, firstly checking this year’s lambing records to see which ewes had problems and needed to be culled regardless of their overall condition. Then we move on to teeth, udders and general condition – everything must be right to give the ewe the best chance of successfully getting in lamb and ultimately producing and rearing healthy lambs.
With that job accomplished we then had the last job of bringing in the rams and
putting raddle paste on their breastbone. This year the first colour is orange. We mix the raddle powder with vegetable oil until it is a thick paste and then we apply a good covering on each ram. It shows up very well when the Jacob ram covers a ewe, but it is less easy to detect with the Black Welsh ewes. We re-apply the paste weekly so that we really can see who has been covered and who hasn’t.
After 2 weeks we change the colour. You might ask why. It just helps us to see which ewes will lamb in the first 2 weeks and then those who will lamb in the next few weeks. It helps with the feeding as it is important to feed ewes properly up to the point of lambing. Also from a financial point of view it is a waste of money feeding those who are going to lamb later the same ration as those who lamb early.
We keep the rams in for two heat cycles – the average heat cycle being 17 days and it can last up to 30 hours during which time the ewe will stand for the ram. Anything which “returns” after that is unlikely to be in lamb. Using different coloured raddle paste helps us to see when and if a ewe returns. If she is marked first with orange and then in the second heat cycle gets a second colour, then there might be a problem. Big commercial flocks might even use a third colour for the last 2 weeks. I’m afraid I don’t.
As I am writing this I am pleased to say that there are quite a few ewes with orange rear ends – good boys……. keep up the good work!
I am also so pleased to say that we now have more beef calves back on the farm, so more beef for the shop next year.
Janet East
