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Shepherds Diary

Swaledale Ewe in Yorkshire Dales

December 2011

Winter is here, the nights are colder and the ground is white with frost in the morning.

Thankfully both the rain and snow are keeping away, but plenty of winter weather is still to come.

The rams will still be out with the ewes until after Christmas, you may notice the brightly coloured tails on the sheep. This is from a 'crayon' that is on the briskett of the ram. When the ram jumps on the ewe it 'marks' her so you know she has been 'tupped'.

There are a number of ways farmers use the 'Keel' or 'Crayon'. It is literally a large crayon that is changed periodically.

The ewe will come onto heat every 19 days so many farmers change the colour of the crayon ever 19 days, so they can see if they are coming back into heat. This will indicate that the ewe is not 'in lamb'.

This could indicate that the ram 'is not working properly' and it flags up potentiol problems.
So at the moment it is still a case of checking all the ewes with rams daily, to make sure they are all fit and well.