Breeding & selection

It all starts with the choice of pair. The industry rule: mate for complementarity (a long ram on a tall ewe, for instance) and check both parents' genealogy before any mating. That is exactly what our pedigree database enables, with its Wright inbreeding coefficient over 5 generations: below 6.25% the risk is low; above 12.5% the mating should be avoided.

A Ladoum ewe is ready to breed at around 12–18 months — better to wait for proper development than rush her. Rams start serving around 12 months, with peak fertility between 2 and 6 years. Gestation lasts about 150 days (5 months).

The last weeks of gestation demand a reinforced ration and a clean, calm lambing box. At birth: disinfect the cord, check the first suckle (first-24-hours colostrum is vital), and identify the lamb immediately — date, birth weight, sire, dam. That birth record is the pedigree's first link.

A well-born Ladoum lamb roughly doubles its birth weight in a month. Weaning comes around 3–4 months. Future stature is decided between 6 and 18 months, during the great growth phase: steady growth ration, exercise, and monthly measurements recorded in the database.

Ladoum husbandry guides

• Housing & sheepfold — Designing healthy, ventilated, secure housing for very large animals.
• Feeding — Building growth and stature without wrecking digestive health.
• Health & prevention — Prevention before cure: the health calendar of a serious farm.

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