It is nearly time for mating to begin for another season. We are tidying up the last of our ram palpating jobs and getting well through the ram teaser surgeries.

Rams should be checked ideally 6-12 weeks before mating. This gives you time to treat any issues you find and they have time to recover.

When checking your rams remember the four T’s: Teeth, Toes, Tackle & Testes, (plus Torso according to the Aussies which means condition score).

For those who haven’t used a teaser ram, they are rams who have been vasectomised so they are sterile but still produce testosterone. They still have normal libido and will mate ewes.

Teasers are used to synchronise ewes and hoggets that are already cycling, and stimulate non-cycling ewes and hoggets to cycle earlier. They may also improve ovulation rate so the number of twins is higher. The ideal teaser ram is healthy, has passed the four T’s test and preferably isn’t a ram lamb.

Teasers are ideally cut 6 weeks minimum before mating so they have time to heal and any viable sperm in the tubes is gone.

Ewes should be isolated from all rams and teasers for 21 days, then the teasers can be introduced 17 days before mating. This should stimulate the ewes to have a silent heat if they aren’t cycling, so they are in their second and more fertile heat when the rams are joined.

Some people recommend using teasers at the normal ram ratio (1:50- 1:100), other suggest 1:300 for hoggets and 1:500 for MA ewes. A New Zealand study concluded that when using teasers for hoggets ratios of up to 1:197 can increase the percentage of hoggets bred in the first cycle by at least 16.4% so 1:200 is what we normally recommend for both hoggets and MA ewes.

Teased hoggets have larger ovarian follicles and heavier hoggets (>36kg) have the best response to teasers as they are more likely to already have started cycling.

Give your local clinic a call if you’d like to book in any last minute ram vasectomies for the upcoming mating season.