[Jacob-list] Re:sponging - UK-speak again..

[Neal and Louise Grose]

I think that this is just now being approved and put into use with cattle in
America. We had a lecture on it this past winter in a dairy meeting. I think
that they used a fancier word for it.

It seems like an odd thing to worry with in sheep. We normally try to wait
and put the ram in with the ewes on the first weekend in November. This
gives us all the lambs dropped in April unless a few ewe lambs catch for
early May. [By taking the rams out by Christmas, we skip ewe lambs that are
undersized.] I have to say that I do not think that I would want 60 to 80
lambs in one week rather than one month. Since we do not have effective
shelter for the sheep, this schedule works better for us.

Neal Grose
North Carolina

----- Original Message -----
From: <MarmontJacobs at aol.com>
To: <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 7:54 PM
Subject: [Jacob-list] Re:sponging - UK-speak again..


> Hi all,
>          Sponging is where a small hormone impregnated sponge with a gut
> string on it is inserted into the ewe by finger or plastic applicator,
> followed usually a couple of weeks later by its removal and a hormone jab.
> The technique can be used to synchronise a very tight lambing pattern
where
> males are kept within sight and sound of the ewes and/or to induce
> out-of-season lambing.
>
> Sometimes in cattle etc it is used to harvest embryos for implantation in
> surrogates, as, if too much injection is given more eggs will be released
> than normal.
>
> Trisha, Wales
>
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