A2B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 16, 1991
Accelerated Lambing
(Continued from Page A 1)
have instituted at their Hawk Mea
dow Farm puts a 400 lambing per
cent goal well with reach of their
ability to obtain it.
“One of the easiest and least
understood methods of increasing
profits from sheep is to use acceler
ated lambing or STAR system,”
said Mende. “This system of
breeding and lambing was deve
loped some years ago by Brian
McGee of Cornell University.
‘The basic concept of acceler
ated lambing is that you turn the
ram in at fixed intervals during the
year. While this extends the lamb
ing season, it also means that you
will get more lambs per year from
each ewe.”
Hawk Meadow Farm was
stocked with 12 ewes snd a ram
eight years ago. Some of the origi
nal individuals are still in 200 head
flock that is now managed on the
accelerated lambing program.
Mende says many people who
come to the farm to buy ewe lambs
express an interest in the acceler
ated program, but they often say
they don’t understand how to do it.
Mende says in their program,
there are five breeding and lambing
sessions each year. Breeding and
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lambing coincide. Approximately
one-third of an established acceler
ated lambing flock will lamb dur
ing a particular session. You capi
talize on the ewe’s innate ability
and don’t need to alter light cycles,
use progesterone sponges, teaser
rams, or any of the multitude of
gimmicks people say you need to
use.
The chart with this article shows
the breeding and lambing intervals.
To get started, (if you do not
already have sheep), buy ewes or
ewe lambs from an accelerated
lambing flock. Choose lambs sired
by a ram who is a proven out-of
season breeder and sires multiple
births of healthy lambs year round.
Ask to see the flock production
records. Choose ewes that have a
history of unassisted births, milk
production to raise twins with an
average daily gain of at least .65
lbs. per day from birth to 100 days.
Look for lambing intervals of 175
to 240 days, and a lifetime lambing
average of greater than 300
percent.
Mende says that if you already
have ewes, don’t sell them, but put
them on the STAR system and cull
with abandon.
You will have to decide what
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your culling criteria should be.
This will change as the flock’s pro
ductivity improves.
To get started, save ewe lambs
only out of your top-producing
ewes. Ewes must lamb by 14
months of age. Cull any that don’t
lamb in this time frame.
Out of the ewes that have
lambed by 14 months, cull those
that do not lamb by 11 months
later. Out of those that remain, cull
any that do not lamb eight months
later.
At the end of two years, cull any
mature ewe that has not lambed at
least three times within that two
year period.
What you are trying to do is to
establish a flock that will consis
tently lamb at least every eight
months. With time and strict cull
ing, lambing intervals can be shor
tened to 6.5 to 7.4 months.
For the STAR system to be most
profitable, the ewes must consis
tently have multiple births. Th
Mendes say their Finn cross ewes
can produce eight or more live
lambs in two years, but the
increased profits from these ewes
are only attained with more work.
“The biggest reason people
abandon accelerated lambing is
because their ewes don’t perform,”
Mende said. “And the reason they
don’t perform is because the she
pherd tries to feed them the same as
he would a once-a-year lambing
flock. On an accelerated lambing
schedule, there is no “flushing.”
Ewes must be kept in breeding con
dition at all times.”
To be kept as a replacement in
the Hawk Meadow flock, the
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lambs must be from ewes that have
a 400 lambing percent. Even
breeding stock sold to commercial
flocks must come from ewes with a
300 lambing percent.
In the future, the Mcnde’s hope
to have two alternating commer
cial flocks on the STAR accceler
ated lambing system. This would
give them a crop of lambs every
month. And their altament goal is
to be able to cull at the 300 to 325
lambing percent range.
“Over the last three years, arti
cles on profitable sheep raising in
* Change in dates due to Christmas sales falling around
** Gestation length of 135-148 days
* * *
FEATURES
BUILT BY
Breeding Lambing Weaning Possible
Session Sessions** Date*** Markets
-1 1/1 to 1/31 5/15 to 5/28 8/1
*2 3/15 to 4/14 7/23 to 9/9 10/13
*3 5/1 to 6/5* 9/13 to 10/31 12/5
*4 8/8 to 9/7 12/21 to 2/2 3/8
=5 10/20 to 11/19 3/4 to 4/16 5/20
12/15-18
Lambs can be weaned when they are 5-7 weeks old without
too many problems drying off the ewe. Earlier weaning
means special handling and feeding of ewes and lambs and
this equates to work and money. Go by the length of
lactation (at least six weeks), milk production, and
condition of the ewe and not by the weight of the lamb(s)
Hothouse
Christmas fat lamb
Easter fat lamb
Breeding stock (breed in January)
Christmas lightweight
Easter lightweight
Feeder
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Lancaster Farming have been few
and far between,” Mende said.
“Most of these articles are long on
theory and short on practical know
how, written by extension special
ists and veterinarians who earned
their degrees in the lab and not in
the barn.
‘Those who elect to try acceler
ated lambing will find it works and
can increase profits,” Mende said.
“The more you work with the sys
tem, the more you will find you
want to optimize it to yield higher
profits.”
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