We’ve been waiting patiently for the ewes to lamb, which they finally did during August. We’ve had Roger Ramjet (our ram) running with them since December, but last years awful drought and the late start to winter this year obviously affected their fertility (they are more white dorper than wiltipol and normally cycle year round).
We didn’t manage to catch any of the births this year as the sheep are in paddocks completely separated from the goat paddocks for biosecurity reasons. All of the ewes lambed, only one had twins at foot and one ewe had delivered but lost the lamb, possibly to foxes which have been really bad the past couple of years.
In the past we have found the black headed dorpers to be incredibly strong, protective mothers that defend their lambs quite fiercely, this lot of ewes are good mothers, but don’t seem to have quite the same protective mothering instincts that our previous flocks have had.
Only one ewe lamb, the rest are all rams that will be wethered when we tag and vaccinate them when they are a bit older.
