Preparing Your Sheep for Breeding Season: A Practical Guide for the Homestead
Learn how to prepare your sheep for breeding season with step-by-step tips on nutrition, flushing, ram care, and flock management for healthier lambs.
Today, I’ll walk you through exactly how I prepare my flock for breeding season—step by step. I’ll share what’s worked for me, what hasn’t, and a few little tips that make a big difference.
Why Preparation for Breeding Season Matters
A healthy breeding season sets the tone for the entire year. If your ewes go into it in the right condition, you’ll see stronger pregnancies, healthier lambs, and smoother lambing. On the flip side, if you skip the prep, you can end up with fertility problems, weak lambs, or more losses than you’d like. Trust me, it’s worth the effort now so you’re not scrambling later.
Here’s the thing: it takes food to make milk. And this isn’t something you can make up for after lambs are born. Milk production actually begins long before lambing—it relies on hormones from the placenta, and the placenta itself depends on good nutrition during breeding and early pregnancy. If a ewe’s nutrition needs aren’t met, she’ll grow a smaller placenta, which means less milk (and for a shorter time). So the work you put in now directly impacts how much milk you’ll have later—for lambs and for your family’s table.
2 Months Before Breeding
Move rams to their breeding pastures. Rams can actually become temporarily sterile after being transported—sometimes for 4–6 weeks! So if you’re buying or moving rams, aim to get them settled at least two months before breeding.
Check Body Condition Scores (BCS).
Rams should be on the higher side (3.5–4.0) because they’ll lose weight during breeding season.
Ewes should be around 3–3.5.
Thin ewes (below 3.0) need extra care—deworm if necessary and separate them for better feeding.
Really thin ewes (under 2.0) should be checked for missing teeth, parasites, or other issues. If nothing obvious is wrong, start them on grain slowly.
Sort your flock. Group ewes based on their BCS so you can feed them accordingly.
1 Month Before Breeding
Shear (if needed). In hot climates, shear rams and possibly ewes to prevent overheating and fertility issues. In Montana, I skip this since temps have already cooled by breeding season. Crutching (just tidying up the back end) is a good alternative if you don’t want to shear fully. (I also skip this with no trouble)
Trim hooves. Keeping feet healthy now saves you a lot of headaches later, and keeps sheep sound. Sound sheep = healthy sheep.
Check FAMACHA scores. Deworm only if necessary, especially for ewes on the thin side.
Vaccinate for abortions. If your flock has had issues in the past, this is a good preventative step.
Wean lambs at least 30 days before breeding if you haven’t already.
Train ewe lambs on the milking stanchion and routine—it’s so much easier to do this before they’re bred.
Body Condition Score everyone again
Breeding soundness exam. If you’re unsure about a ram, have your vet check him 4–6 weeks beforehand. This gives you peace of mind but is not always necessary
Flushing: Feeding for Fertility
“Flushing” just means giving ewes extra energy before and during breeding to boost ovulation.
When to start: About 2–3 weeks before turning the ram in.
What to feed: For mature ewes with a BCS of 3.0, I give ¼–½ lb of grain per day and continue for 30 days after the ram is turned out.
What not to do: I don’t flush my ewe lambs because I don’t want them to have more lambs than they can handle. Even without flushing, most of mine still had twins last year.
My Flushing Routine
Here’s the exact schedule I follow with my mature ewes:
Week 1: ¼ lb grain per head, per day
Week 2: ½ lb grain per head, per day
Week 3: ½ lb grain per head, per day
Weeks 4-6 (ram in): 1/2 lb grain per head, per day
Week 7: (9 days) ¼ lb grain per head, per day
One Week Before Breeding
Cycle synchronization. I give my mature ewes a shot of Lutalyse to synchronize their cycles and tighten up the lambing window. For ewe lambs, I let them cycle naturally.
Just Before Breeding
Ram harness. Fit your ram with a marking harness a couple of days ahead so he’s comfortable with it and you can adjust if needed.
During Breeding Season
Check the ram daily. Record which ewes are marked (morning and evening).
Change crayon color every 17 days to track cycles.
Calculate due dates based on those breeding records.
Remove rams after 34 days: I like to leave my rams in for two cycles, some people like to leave them in for longer, that is your call
After Breeding
Reintroduce rams carefully. They’ll fight if thrown back together too soon. Pasture them across the fence for a few days before rejoining.
Evaluate ram health. Make sure he recovers well before the next season.
Ram Power: How Many Ewes Can One Ram Cover?
Ram lambs (born that spring): 15–25 ewes
Mature rams: 35–50 ewes
And here’s a quirky tip—try to keep an odd number of rams. If you only have two, they’ll spend more time fighting each other than breeding. But if you’ve got three, at least one will be working while the others are busy brawling.
Final Thoughts
Preparing for breeding season takes some planning, but once you’ve done it a couple of times, it becomes second nature. Think of it like prepping your pantry before a busy season—you do the work up front, and then everything runs smoother later.
Healthy ewes, fertile rams, and a little extra feed can make all the difference in your lamb crop. And remember, nothing ever goes perfectly (this is homesteading, after all!), but setting yourself up well gives you the best chance at success.