# Ram horns growing against his head



## kliles1299 (Jul 4, 2015)

My ram's horns are growing against his face.  Is there any other way to correct horn growth besides cutting the horns?


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## purplequeenvt (Jul 4, 2015)

Not really. I heard of someone who uses a special brace that she had custom made to train the horns, but I think that is something that she puts on the rams while they are still young. 

What breed of sheep is this? Are you planning to use him for breeding?


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## kliles1299 (Jul 4, 2015)

purplequeenvt said:


> Not really. I heard of someone who uses a special brace that she had custom made to train the horns, but I think that is something that she puts on the rams while they are still young.
> 
> What breed of sheep is this? Are you planning to use him for breeding?





He's an Icelandic and he was bred to my Icelandic ewes last year.  I was going to use him again but if this trait can be passed on then I don't think I will.


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## promiseacres (Jul 5, 2015)

Rams with wide set horns are best, but many times you don't know they look until they are 1-2 years. He is pretty. My limited understanding on horn shape inheritance is that it's a toss up on what their offspring get.


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## purplequeenvt (Jul 6, 2015)

Bad horns can be inheritable, but I've used rams with questionable horns that have produced babies with excellent horns.


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## sadieml (Nov 22, 2015)

He certainly is beautiful, poor horn shape and all.  I would think about cutting those beasties and try training the new growth.  Check out this thread post and this article.  Maybe you can do something about his horns, but as they point out, dads do seem to pass on horn charateristics.  You might want to look for a ram with better horns to pass on to the progeny.  Just like looking for a doe with a nice udder, apparently you need to pay close attention to a ram's horns. Tough lesson to learn after the fact(and potentially costly, I'm afraid).  So sorry.

I do remember reading that new growth is from the base(like hair) so I would think you can probably influence direction with some type of head-gear or hat-type item? (sounds stupid, I know)  Maybe like what @purplequeenvt mentioned. Seems like spring tension may be in order(like that post I referenced).  I wish I knew more.  Sorry, again, and good luck!


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