Ewe 144

Ewe 144 with her 2017 triplets.

Even when we were running 300-plus ewes, there were individual sheep that I would recognize. In many cases, this was related to behavioral or reproductive characteristics - some ewes are friendlier than others; some ewes are better mothers than others. Now that we've downsized significantly, I could probably tell you something about nearly every ewe in our flock. The following is a short story about Ewe 144 (the number refers to her ear tag).

I've not yet dug deep enough into our production records to determine who 144's dam was; her sire was one of 2 or 3 Blueface Leicester rams we had in 2011. The fact that she was retained in our flock past lamb-hood suggests that her mother was a good one - 144 was likely born without assistance, received plenty of milk, and was watched over by an attentive mother. She arrived in February or March of 2012.

In the fall of 2013, she was exposed to one of our composite rams. The breeding took, and she delivered a single lamb in the late winter or early spring of 2014. In 2015, she had twins. Last year, she delivered the first set of quadruplets we'd ever seen in our flock. We took the smallest lamb home; she nursed the three remaining lambs. This year, she delivered triplets on February 28. Based on her past record, we let her keep all three lambs.

Last weekend, we body condition scored the ewes. Body condition (in sheep) is assessed by feeling for fat cover over the spine, along the transverse processes, and over the upper rib. This external fat cover indicates the nutritional status of the animal; a score of 1 indicates emaciation, while a score of 5 denotes obesity. We like our ewes to be at around 3 to 3.5 when we turn the rams in with them in October. We expect them to drop a bit of condition late in their lactations (in June) - 2.5 to 3 are acceptable scores in our operation at weaning time (late June).

We also weigh the lambs at weaning. This gives us some sense of how much milk the ewes are producing and how well the lambs are growing. Ewes with singles often wean the biggest lambs; ewes with multiples usually wean the most total pounds of lamb. Since we get paid by weight, a ewe that weans more total pounds of lambs is more profitable.

Ewe 144 had a body condition score of 3.5 last weekend - which means she was both producing milk for her lambs and taking care of herself. Her three lambs weighed a combined 175 pounds - even more incredible when I consider that the sheep have had only grass and supplemental minerals since last October. She's been bred four times in her lifetime, and she's given us 10 lambs (9 of which she raised herself).

Sheep can be evaluated in a number of ways, including in the show ring. Sheep shows, at least in this country, can be helpful in setting breed standards in terms of style, appearance, and structural correctness. But these superficial characteristics often fail to recognize traits related to profit and sustainability (of which profit is a component). These superficial characteristics also fail to account for the importance of place; the "perfect" ewe in the show ring would likely fall apart in a grazing-based system like ours. Superficially, Ewe 144 is not particularly striking - she's an average-sized Cheviot mule ewe (mules are crossbreds - sired by Blueface Leicesters out of a Cheviot ewe, in this case). In California, in fact, there are no sheep shows in which she could be entered. And yet she's made more money for our farm in the last 4 years than any other ewe. She's our ideal. I wish I had a thousand more just like her!

Note: the lambs in the header of Foothill Agrarian are Ewe 144's lambs from 2017! The photo was taken in early March.

Good mama - 144 with her 2016 quadruplets.