Can anyone point me to a good article or information on how to raise rams correctly?
Picked my ram up from the society show and sale. Think he’d been a show ram. He was quite interactive in a nice way (I now realise he was probably too nice for a ram but that’s experience for you) and looked good. We put him in with the ewes and planned to keep him with them until lambing. He couldn’t keep it in his pants though so we had to take him out. He’s been on his own, although most of the time he has other sheep in sight/sound, and I plan to put my ram lambs in with him.
As his time with the ewes progressed he decided to get a bit moody. He gave me a dead leg the first time, took me by surprise as he’d always been pretty placid. Since then he has had his moments where he’s tried it on but I now have eyes in the back of my head when I’m in his paddock. I try to ignore him, but when he comes over should I try and dominate him one way or another? Is his behaviour likely to improve with company? I imagine it’s been stressful to be alone for a period of time and don’t know whether this hasn’t helped his mood swings. Someone told me “pets” can turn nasty. I understand rams should be respectful and ideally they probably should just stay away from you?
Also, can anyone give me tips, or point me in the direction of some useful reading, as how to raise a ram lamb properly? The lambs are coming on for four months and starting to try and butt and nudge at me (albeit not with the force of their father!)
Any comments welcome. Appreciate most will be to get shot of the ram if he’s a pain but really looking for methods of managing him rather than sending him off. He’s not like it all the time, and I think the other half would not agree with getting rid of him. I want to sell my ram lambs on for breeding (as they’re rare breed) don’t want to pass on problem children.
Picked my ram up from the society show and sale. Think he’d been a show ram. He was quite interactive in a nice way (I now realise he was probably too nice for a ram but that’s experience for you) and looked good. We put him in with the ewes and planned to keep him with them until lambing. He couldn’t keep it in his pants though so we had to take him out. He’s been on his own, although most of the time he has other sheep in sight/sound, and I plan to put my ram lambs in with him.
As his time with the ewes progressed he decided to get a bit moody. He gave me a dead leg the first time, took me by surprise as he’d always been pretty placid. Since then he has had his moments where he’s tried it on but I now have eyes in the back of my head when I’m in his paddock. I try to ignore him, but when he comes over should I try and dominate him one way or another? Is his behaviour likely to improve with company? I imagine it’s been stressful to be alone for a period of time and don’t know whether this hasn’t helped his mood swings. Someone told me “pets” can turn nasty. I understand rams should be respectful and ideally they probably should just stay away from you?
Also, can anyone give me tips, or point me in the direction of some useful reading, as how to raise a ram lamb properly? The lambs are coming on for four months and starting to try and butt and nudge at me (albeit not with the force of their father!)
Any comments welcome. Appreciate most will be to get shot of the ram if he’s a pain but really looking for methods of managing him rather than sending him off. He’s not like it all the time, and I think the other half would not agree with getting rid of him. I want to sell my ram lambs on for breeding (as they’re rare breed) don’t want to pass on problem children.
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