Tupping time is often considered the beginning of the lambing year and there are a few tasks to carry out for it to go smoothly. Starting from the earliest ones, down to the last minute, there is always something to keep in mind. Overall, you want to make sure both tup and ewes have the best chance at conceiving, as that will translate into healthy pregnancies and many lambs.

Table of contents

1) Ram MOT

It is vital that the lad is feeling healthy and ready for work; he has a short window in which to serve as many ewes as possible. So he needs to be in tip top condition. Ideally, roughly 6-8 weeks before the start of mating he should undergo a thorough check, either by yourself or with your vet. This is to make sure to spot any potential issues that might affect his performance.

Why so long beforehand? This is due to the length of time it takes for sperm to be replaced. A tup working today is using sperm produced roughly 6 weeks ago; if he had been unwell (with a high temperature or other health condition) back then, it would likely have had negative effects on the quality of the sperm produced. That in turn would have negative repercussions on his fertility today. For instance, his sperm’s ability to fertilise eggs, and the number of ewes in lamb; overall decreasing the number of lambs produced.

What we want to check is the 5 Ts: Teeth, Toes, Testicles, Tone, Treat. Include Eyes and Brisket for good measure! 

He needs to have good teeth

So no missing ones (“broken mouth”), in order to maintain his feed intakes during the busy tupping time. 

Toes

No lameness, as he needs to walk round the fields to find the ewes to mate. 

Testicles

They need to be of good size, even, smooth, freely moving, and free of lumps and bumps. 

Tone

This is about body condition score (BCS); he’s going to work hard and likely will lose weight in the next 6 weeks or so. He should start from BCS 3.5-4 (on scale 1-5 where 5 is over fat). Leaner tups might lose too much condition and find it hard to put it back on over winter. 

Treat

This is a reminder to give vaccine boosters, worming treatments, trace elements boluses, footbath if needed etc. 

Eyes

Check for cloudiness, weeping or photophobia (i.e. keeping them shut); if infection is suspected, check with your vet for the appropriate treatment. Although the tups mostly find fertile ewes by smell, they still need to see where they are going! 

Brisket

This is often overlooked, but it can be a really sore spot (sometimes with open wounds), and would put him off from serving the ewes if he gets pain every time he jumps. Brisket sores need treatment especially if you intend to use a raddle or paints. 

If you have any concerns about the quality of the semen, you should ask your vet for a specific examination that includes semen sampling. That will give you fairly accurate information about the number and morphology of the sperm. The vet will be able to advise based on what they found.

2) Ewes MOT

Similarly to the tups, the ladies need to be in best of health after having weaned the lambs. Ideally, they need at least 6-8 weeks of “me time”, from weaning to tupping, in which to put condition back on (which they will have lost during lactation), recover from infections such as mastitis or lameness, and generally enjoy some end of summer weather without some pesky, large milk thieves around. 

Teeth, Toes, Tone and Treat all apply to ewes as well, to which we’ll also add Eyes (same as the tups) and: 

Udder 

Check for hard lumps, abscesses, damaged teats or other signs of unevenness. If she had mastitis, it’s likely that side might have become “blind” (i.e. won’t milk again). Make sure to cull (or retire) any problem ewes at weaning, so they won’t get in the lambing group again. Any vaccines against aborting agents need to be given at least 4 weeks before tupping.

3) As you get closer to tupping, you might want to consider moving the rams in paddocks closer to the ewes, so they can start seeing and smelling each other. 

The “ram effect” is a very powerful way to encourage the ewes to start cycling regularly as they come into season (in the seasonal breeds; some breeds such as Dorset are able to breed all year round).

This is when some farmers use teaser tups; these are vasectomised rams that maintain all the male characteristics, but are unable to get ewes in lamb. The teasers, sometimes used alongside progesterone sponges in the ewes, promote a tighter lambing period by serving the ewes at the very start of their season when they often have a non fertile heat, giving the entire rams the best chance of catching the fertile cycles and not tiring them out.

4) The week of the start of tupping make sure you do one last quick check on the health of the tups

Be careful at this stage because they will be full of testosterone and could be quite pushy. If you have more than one group of ewes, plan ahead which rams will go where, and if swapping tups might be needed after the first cycle. Especially in smaller flocks/groups, it would be better to not have 2 tups in at the same time, as they might decide to spend more time fighting than mating. Try to make sure the ewe numbers are adequate for one tup, or for larger groups would be better to have a third “spare”, in that way, they can all go round mating or if two get caught in a spat, the third one should be able to do his job and you won’t miss any heats.

5) The day of the introduction they will need to be fitted with their raddles, or painted on the brisket. 

The colour on the ewes’ rumps will give you an idea of how quickly he’s getting round to serving them. Ideally you want more than half of them (65% or more) mated in the first cycle. A ewe’s fertile cycle is 17 days, therefore after this time you will want to change the raddle colour. This is so you can spot at a later date the ewes that were mated in the following cycles, and also those that got caught again. It is important to know if there are high numbers of ewes mated in more than one cycle; this could mean there are fertility issues in the flock and you might need to investigate with your vet.

6) Leave the rams in with the ewes for 2-3 cycles, and when they are removed the ewes need to not be moved again for approximately 6 weeks. 

This is a crucial period for the pregnancies to establish, and any undue stresses to the ewes might increase the number of empties at scanning.

As this article goes live, it’s a bit late for most flocks to do the thorough tup and ewe MOTs mentioned above. Hopefully you will have had a chance to carry them out around September, and everything was in good order. If in doubt on what to do or how, always have a chat with your local vets. May you have fields full of gambolling lambs next spring!

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