After a ram ran loose in a pen of ewes, this lamb was born early. It will soon be joined by others as the official lambing season begins on Ryan’s ranch. (Neil La Rubbio/Montana Kaimin)

Shepherd’s spring rite: Lambing season has begun

by Neil LaRubbio | March 10, 2010 | Montana Kaimin

Lambing season can be a deadly time if sheep remain on the range, exposed to predators and the elements. But in a sheep pen under a shepherd’s watchful eye, lambs have a better chance to survive.

“It’s new life that’s happening,” rancher Dan Ryan said, his voice rumbling like grinding rock. He wears an iconoclastic ponytail and a fedora. At 63 years old, Ryan has raised sheep for 27 years and ranched in western Montana all his life. But lambing is still the highlight of his year.

Ryan passed the time Saturday morning on his ranch outside Ronan, waiting for half of his 240 ewes to begin lambing. Their pregnant abdomens were taut, on the verge of giving birth. Their udders were full of colostrum, a vitamin-enriched milk. Ryan had expected to be covered in amniotic slime all week, but no lambs had dropped yet.
Ranching, or animal husbandry, is like managing a community. Because there are so many variables, the work is endless and full of surprises. There are disease outbreaks and health problems to control and predators lurk on the fringe. And even a flock of sheep is not without its sociopaths.

Rams are usually the bullies of the community. During mating season in the fall, the rams become agitated due to peaking hormones, “like high school kids before prom,” Ryan said. The rams are penned in a smaller area next to the ewes to excite them. Then Ryan “flushes” the ewes either by de-worming them or feeding them a quarter-pound of corn every day for two weeks before turning the rams loose in their pen. Flushing the ewes, as Ryan puts it, makes them “like sorority sisters where they’re all menstruating at the same time.” The rams weigh 350 pounds when they enter the ewes’ pen, and after days of copulation, they leave as skin and bones weighing 150 pounds.

Sheep growers must remain cautious around rams. If a rancher lets his guard down, the ram may take the opportunity to charge. For example Ryan said, an eastern Montana rancher in his 70s was knocked down and killed by a ram a few years ago. When the rancher’s wife tried to chase the ram off, the animal trapped her underneath a car and killed her too. So Ryan carries a club around with him during mating season.

“You can usually tell ‘em, though,” Ryan said. “They got the red eyes.”

Ryan’s ewes roamed within their seven-acre pen in front of the house. The pasture was greening at the far end of the fence line, but the ewes stayed close to the feeders. Ryan dumped four bales of hay into the feeders using a gigantic green tractor. After that, he tore open two sacks of mineral feed and poured the pellets into galvanized washtubs in the middle of the pen.

“The whole thing about sheep is balanced nutrition,” Ryan said. “They can need things that they’re not getting. Rather than just salt, you feed them minerals. If they get falling down, you give them alfalfa pellets or a concentrate of some kind.”

A malnourished ewe is prone to disease and can foster a lamb with deformities or sickness. Ryan feeds the ewes more to increase their weight before mating season so they can put energy toward the unborn lambs and surviving the winter. Ryan shears his ewes in January, and only a healthy ewe can survive the cold weather. With any luck, some ewes will have twins or triplets.

Shearing occurs before lambing season because an ewe’s wool breaks prior to giving birth. Ryan earns around $900 for every 450-pound bale of wool. His 240 ewes yield roughly four bales. For three or four days after shearing, the sheep may huddle in a shed for warmth. But afterward, their natural lanolin oil rebuilds their fleece so it’s slick and resistant to stormy weather.

Late Saturday afternoon, the sheep continued bleating and burping, munching and slurping around the feeder. Ryan went inside leaving the guard dogs, a gang of four Great Pyrenees, lying in the sun. They would need some sleep before going on patrol.

Sheepdogs spend their entire lives with the flock, said Marvin Dunster, a breeder from Billings. Dunster “bonds” the puppies to the sheep, but they receive no training or discipline. The dogs operate out of instinct. Each dog has a favorite sheep amongst a group that it follows like a best friend, Dunster said. The dog always knows which sheep is his or hers.
Lambing is an exciting time for sheepdogs as well. They help the mothers clean the lambs as they are born, clearing the lamb’s nostils for it to take its first breath.
Afterward, the sheepdogs dine on the placentas, saving Ryan a week’s worth of dog kibble.

As the lambs are born, Ryan will gather them and their mothers and place them in “lambing jugs” inside a shed. Lambing jugs are small box-pens used for nursing. Keeping the lambs with their mothers after birth is important because this is where other sociopaths of the flock, called “grannies,” may intrude. Desperate for a lamb of their own, grannies steal newborn lambs from ailing mothers. The problem is that grannies’ udders are dry, and lambs will die trying to nurse.

By 14 to 21 days after lambing, the mother produces more milk than a Holstein cow. Ryan’s shed will transform into a virtual milk factory. A lamb will nurse until the day the mother weans it. The new members of the flock will grow bigger by the day.

Waiting at his kitchen counter, Ryan pinched tobacco into a rolling-paper. After another year of nurturing his flock, the joy of lambing season was ready to begin.

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