If you’re planning on breeding your sheep, the first and most important step to ensure success is to determine if they are physically well-suited for the task of carrying and birthing lambs. The following checklist will help you evaluate whether or not your candidate sheep have what it takes. For more info please read: The Complete Sheep Breeding Guide

Eye Color

People often talk about sheep breeds with expressive eyes. There are many breeds of sheep with beautiful, shiny eyes. However, not all eye colors are suitable for shepherding or breeding. A good breeder will look at more than just eye color when selecting a sheep to breed. Eye color is important because it helps you determine what type of wool your sheep might produce and how much care your new lamb will need when it’s born. If your goal is to raise lambs that will make high-quality wool or other goods, you’ll want to take a close look at both their father’s and mother’s eye color before deciding on a mate. The color of a ram’s eyes can tell you whether he will pass along certain traits to his offspring, such as susceptibility to certain diseases.

Body Size

When it comes to sheep, bigger isn’t always better. Large and particularly large rams can potentially be too aggressive when it comes to breeding with ewes and smaller rams, on average, have a harder time mounting their female counterparts. As such, you should avoid any sheep that appear overly aggressive or seem unable to breed effectively with other sheep of a similar size. This won’t necessarily apply in all situations but is worth keeping in mind as a potential warning sign if you’re considering adding one of these individuals to your flock. Body size itself can be difficult to determine without actually handling an animal so keep an eye out for changes in behavior among your existing flock that may provide clues as to their sizes.

Coat Color

If you’re going to breed your sheep, you need to know how to properly identify coat color. It is important to select a sheep based on its genetics, not just its appearance. You also want to avoid mating two related sheep, since that will lower their genetic diversity and weaken them genetically as a whole. The following visual checklist can help you properly assess coat color in your potential breeding stock.

Coat Quality

Just like with people, it’s not always easy to tell if a sheep is healthy just by looking at it. A thick coat can mask a variety of problems (or prevent you from seeing those problems in the first place) so make sure to perform a quality check. Grab your hand and run it along an area of hair that has plenty of room between it and another body part; feel any bumps or lumps? If so, there could be something wrong. For example, some lumps may indicate parasites (ticks or mites), which can transmit the infection to other animals as well as humans who handle infected animals directly. To find out whether parasites are present, consult a veterinarian; aside from being potentially dangerous on their own, parasites are usually indicative of poor animal health overall. In addition, look for signs of baldness or patches where fur should be. These can indicate ringworm, mange, fleas, or other skin-related issues.

Early Growth and Development

At birth, ewes should weigh a minimum of 40 pounds. Newborn lambs should be able to stand and nurse within 15 minutes after birth. Both ewes and their newborn lambs should be examined immediately after birthing for any evidence of birthing complications or malpositioning. In some cases, ewes will need assistance in giving birth, especially when delivering large twin lambs; such assistance may come in the form of using your hands to help push out a stuck lamb or using instruments such as forceps to safely remove twins from their mother’s uterus. Make sure that both you and your ewe have latex gloves on before attempting to assist her with birthing. Lambs should nurse within 30 minutes after birth and drink at least two liters of colostrum (the first milk produced by ewes) during their first 24 hours. Afterward, they can begin eating grass hay.

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