MATERNAL SUFFOLKS: MAMAS AND MILKERS
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1. DESCRIBE ANY ADDITIONAL BEHAVIORS YOU’VE OBSERVED IN YOUR SUFFOLK EWES THAT MAKE THEM ‘GOOD MOTHERS’. • Ewes are gentle with their lambs and not aggressive toward other lambs • Ewes are calm in the lambing jug, and careful to not step or lay on lambs • Some teach their twins/triplets to lay together in the mixing pen • Ewes should hold their condition during lactation, not end up skin and bones at weaning • Ewes are quick to clean and attend to newborn lambs • Ewes stand for adequate milking time for the lambs • Ewes call out to their lambs and respond to their lambs’ baas • Carol Heupel of Colorado, shared their maternal scoring system: “We score our ewes at lambing on: 1. “lambing on own” or assistance needed (we id breach, tangled lambs, etc.), mothering, 2. udder (teat size, size of udder, ease of milking, amount of milk), 3. handling (follows good, easy to work with in the jail, etc.) 4. later a score how she is in the group pen (keeps track of lambs, if she's mean to other lambs etc.). Each one we score 1-10. Then I give an overall score: a * is perfect - loved her, or gd +, Good or poor. Or if she really made me mad I put a cull next to the entry." 2. DO YOU THINK THESE TRAITS ARE HERITABLE? IF SO, TO WHAT DEGREE? CAN YOU GIVE EXAMPLES? • Udder depth and teat placement and size seem to have a heritable component • Selection of replacement ewes are kept based on their mothers’ maternal traits • Personality and maternal traits seem heritable – sometimes to a very large degree • Disposition can be both heritable and learned. As put by Rob Zelinsky; “Sheep take on the personality of their shepherds. The character/emotion that shepherds display in their sheep flocks when they are being handled affects the fight or flight hormones in the flock and creates a level of calm or escalates fear… Our goal with working our ewes in a calm, deliberate manner is when we get to this time of year and lambs are being born, during lamb checks we can walk amongst the ewes without them being startled and sometimes they will stay lying while ruminating. That’s the goal."
While Suffolk sheep get a lot of attention as a terminal sire breed, they are also valued and celebrated for the maternal qualities that make Suffolk ewes valuable to their owners. There is limited research data available in quantifying a ewes’ value as it relates to maternal traits, so experts on this topic (the top twenty registrars in our breed, along with directors), were asked to give their feedback on evaluating their Suffolk ewes. The collected observations, thoughts, and opinions of these producers give insight into the performance of Suffolk ewes as mamas and milkers THOSE SURVEYED WERE ASKED TO GIVE A COMPOSITE RATING OF THEIR DAM FLOCK ON THE FOLLOWING BEHAVIORS: (1 BEING LOW, 5 BEING HIGH) THE ACCUMULATED SCORES RESULTED IN THE FOLLOWING AVERAGES. 4.15.... Births lambs with little or no assistance 4.6..... Responds quickly to newborn lambs by getting up and cleaning them 4.2..... Has a healthy size udder, well placed, with ample milk supply and easy to access teats 4.55... Has a protective nature over her lambs 4.6..... Allows lambs nurse for adequate amounts of time 4.65... Locates her lambs and is available to them in a mixing pen with other ewes and lambs 4.6..... Lactates with ease and an abundant supply of milk for her lambs from birthing to weaning Based on these high marks, a large number of Suffolk ewes are doing a very good job for their owners. And apparently this isn’t an accident in these large flocks. As put by Rob Zelinsky of South Dakota, “...we haven’t tolerated poor mothers, bad udder shape and lack of milk for 20 years and we are finally to a place where I am as confident in our maternal traits as I am in our paternal traits.”
These same Suffolk breeders were then asked to respond to the series of questions listed below. Their responses give valuable insight into some management tools that all Suffolk breeders might take into consideration.
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