We vaccinate against abortion diseases. By the first week of December, breeding decisions have been made. The sheep are sorted accordingly, and the appropriate ram turned in, or preparations for artificial insemination have been made. We use a single sire mating, and typically have 4 or more different breeding groups. The rams are left with the ewes for 6 weeks.
Corn is fed to the breeding groups until the rams are removed.
Ewe lambs also receive some supplemental soybean meal. While the ewes go off grain when the rams come out, the ewe lambs continue to be fed, as they are still growing themselves. Thirty days after the rams come out, the ewes can be ultrasounded. This will tell you if the ewes settled, and sophisticated machines can count fetal numbers. The sheep can be separated into groups bearing triplets or twins, and fed accordingly.