# My New Baby_Silly Me, Ram



## Queen Mum (Apr 11, 2015)

So, I took my goats to the sale.  BUT until this little shetland ewe lamb was sold they would not start selling my herd.  No one would bid so I paid a token bid for Petunia.

Petunia is neurologically impaired.  The best way to describe her is Cerebral Palsy.  She has akathisia.  This means that her muscles start moving when she wants them too, but then they take on a life of their own.  She starts to walk and then her legs run away from her. If I hug her, she can calm things down a bit.  When she is calm, she can control the palsy somewhat.

ANYWAY,  

How do I check her age?  She looks older than a bottle baby but she drinks out of a bottle like a starving baby.  She can chew and eat grass.  
What else should I feed her?  
Do sheep need selenium?  
Should I check for other stuff that might be exacerbating her nervous disorder?  (I know not to feed her copper.)
Any other suggestions for a goat herding one handicapped sheep owner newby?


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## promiseacres (Apr 12, 2015)

Ahhhh you're so sweet to take her in. I am not much help but I would keep up with 2 bottles a day until she's eating the grass and sheep pellets better.


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## Queen Mum (Apr 12, 2015)

Shakey little Petunia is ADORABLE.  I gave her a little bottle this morning and sat with her.  She spent about 10 minutes smelling me and looking at my face.  JUST looking at my face. I rubbed her face Iike I do the goats and did the sweet spot scratchy thing and she became a piece of tape on my leg after the ten minutes was up.

The "herd" is having a bit of a time adjusting to this white fluffy ball that doesn't smell like a goat but cries like a very LOUD baby goat and  trembles violently when challenged.  Mama knows she is a baby and is torn between telling her to get lost and protecting her.  Confused is the word of the day for both of them.

I am wondering if she would make a good little therapy sheep for handicapped kids.  I gave her some banana and she loved it.  She was so excited she almost fell down trembling and trying to eat it.


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## norseofcourse (Apr 12, 2015)

She sounds like just the sweetest little thing... glad you ended up with her!


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## purplequeenvt (Apr 12, 2015)

Shetlands are loads of fun. Once tame, they are the friendliest little buggers. All five of my Shetland lambs so far are super friendly.

Little tip.....Shetlands LOVE getting a chest scratch. They will lean into it and wag their little tails. I've had them fall asleep while getting pet.


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## Queen Mum (Apr 12, 2015)

She has this way of pointing her little nose in the air and closing her eyes with a look of absolute ecstasy when I scratch the top of her head.  You would swear she is smiling.  It is super cute!


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## Queen Mum (Apr 13, 2015)

Silly me, I should have looked.  I just assumed when they told me he was a ewe.  But when I noticed this morning he pee'd standing up, I checked and...  I guess his name isn't Petunia, it's Peter.  I shall probably wether him. Is that what you call it when you castrate a ram lamb...?


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## promiseacres (Apr 13, 2015)

My mom did that years ago, brought home a puny tiny ewe lamb....that turned out to be a ram. We called him Folly


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## Queen Mum (Apr 19, 2015)

Peter got a bad haircut today.  It's starting to get really warm and he seems to have a hard time with the heat.  So I clipped him with scissors.    

I'm thinking he is close to two months old.    He is eating more hay and starting to eat grass and leaves.  

Today one of the grown up does, April, went after him and he stood his ground.  YAY Peter!  She backed down.  He is still afraid of Mama, who is starting to get used to him.  He identifies as one of the herd now but is still glued to me when I come down to the barn.


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## purplequeenvt (Apr 19, 2015)

Does he have horns? The majority of Shetland rams do. Can you post a picture of him?


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## Queen Mum (Apr 19, 2015)

I can feel something on the top of his head but no real horns.  His testicles are tiny, so I know he is younger than four months.  He still begs for a bottle.  I'll post a picture tomorrow.


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## Queen Mum (Apr 21, 2015)

Here are pictures of Peter with his very bad haircut.  


 

Giving me a loving look...

 

Taking a bow...

 

And from the front...

 

It is very hard to get a shot of him because he spends all of his time glued to my right or left leg.


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## purplequeenvt (Apr 21, 2015)

Soooo.....he's adorable, but he's NOT a Shetland. Maybe has some Shetland in him (maybe). His tail is too long and his head and ears are the wrong shape. And he looks too big to be only 1 month old. I'd peg him closer to 2 months, possibly even 3. 

Doesn't look like he'll have horns and he's in really good condition! I think you will enjoy your sheep adventure!


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## Queen Mum (Apr 21, 2015)

PurplequeenVT, Thanks for the info.  I am loving this little guy.  So, what breed do you think he is?   He is tiny. He is not much bigger than my baby goats, though he is quite long legged.  All the other lambs he was with were tiny as well.  Do they just start out that small like goat babies and then grow for a couple years?  I checked his head and he seems to have some remnants of horns, do some people remove them on sheep like we do with goats?   His wool is like a fine hair and not curly at all.  It is very soft.  

I was starting to suspect two months old since he acts more like my two-month-old kids.  How long do I bottle feed him?  He's barely eating grass yet.   I wean goat kids at three months.


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## bonbean01 (Apr 21, 2015)

awwwwwwwwwwwww......Peter is adorable and looks like many of my babies...he looks hair sheep to me....we have Dorpers and Katahdins and crosses of the two....and Queen Mum...you will be smitten by sheep .... I know this as sheep are my preference and then our neighbor's goats got me smitten by goats....LOLOLOL.... Peter will need a friend, and I would say yes to having him fixed...if his danglies are not too big, banding the same as your goats would do it...if not...our vet here charges $15.00 to fix a ram if we bring him there....eye to eye sheep gazing by the way is they most powerful therapy for anything in my opinion...love me my sheepies!  And now see goats and kids are the same


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## purplequeenvt (Apr 22, 2015)

He looks an awful lot like a Katahdin to me. Katahdin lambs sometimes have a soft wooly lamb coat at birth that eventually sheds out. 

He might have what we call "scurs". Some ram lambs with get little horn buds that will fall out. 

Generally speaking, folks who raise sheep with horns do not take the horns off. The reason is that there are not a lot of breeds that do have horns (most breeds are naturally polled) and the horns are a specific characteristic of the breed. Jacob sheep for instance, they can have multiple sets of horns.


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## Queen Mum (Apr 22, 2015)

Thanks for the info, Bonbean and Purplequeenvt.  I looked at your facebook pics that you just posted and that was really helpful, Purplequeenvt.  Whew, learn something new every day.  He must be a Katahdin then.  

Good to know about the coat thing.  Since he is neurologically impaired I cut his coat off because he seems to get overheated easily and we have really wide variations in temperature this time of year so he has been struggling with the hot days.  That seemed to help a lot.  I assume his wool will probably grow back in gradually and then he will have time to adjust to the heat.  BTW, he loves to be combed.  

So if Peter needs a friend, will Bonnie the orphan kid goat do for now or should I get a sheep to go with him. He and Bonnie are buddies right now.  She is the only one he will share his feed pan with.  They sleep together at night.   If it needs to be a sheep, will any breed do?  

I thought sheep said Baa.  But Pete says AAAAAAAAAAAAA!  (translated:  "Mama, get back here.  Mama where are you?  Mama, don't leave me here alone in this pen with all these goats. Mama can I come up to the house with you?")


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## purplequeenvt (Apr 23, 2015)

He'd probably be fine with just the goats. If he were an older sheep that had lived with other sheep his whole life it might be different.


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## Queen Mum (Apr 23, 2015)

Today I found out Mama, my herd queen, has been fooling me, sort of.  She has been pushing Peter around whenever I come down to the barn so I have been penning him and Bonnie when I am not there.  Well, I took Peter up to the house today when I went to get something and Mama got upset and actually crawled UNDER the electric fence to follow us.  (taking 6000 volts in the process)  I put her back on the other side of the fence and she stood there calling Peter to come back.  (nickering and calling in her mamma's worried voice)  I put him back into the field with her and what does she do, she talks to him in a mommy voice and leads him straight back to the barn with the other babies.  I sneaked around the building to peak and there she was leading him around with the other babies. 

As soon as she saw me coming to milk tonight she started chasing him around, where seconds before she was treating him just like all the other kid goats in the barn. The Big FAKE!  I think she just wants him to stay in his place at the back of the herd instead of thinking he is my privileged baby.


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## BrownSheep (Apr 23, 2015)

I would seconded not a shetland but he is a cutie. It's funny you mention the baaa...I think only my rams baa most of our sheep Maaa...We've had lambs who sound like they are yelling maaaama .


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## Fireflyfarms (Apr 26, 2015)

He is just the cutest, i think it's lovely you took him on. I see no reason why a goat kid would not make a good companion many do have mixed flocks/herds. Heck i know of horses with a sheep "friend".


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## mikiz (Apr 27, 2015)

How adorable is he! Yes I had a poddy lamb and he would Maa a LOT if he couldn't see me(always came running when I called and sounded So relieved to find me ). And the only other sheep I've ever known have all made a deep Blehhhhh sound rather than a Baa!


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## Ridgetop (Apr 27, 2015)

Super fun!  Bummer lambs are as affectionate as bottle kids.  Definitely castrate him.  Adult rams are meaner than buck goats.  If he gets horns, disbud him.  The only sheep with horns are the breeds that are naturally horned and usually the owners want the horns on because they are breeding/showing them and it is an important show breed characteristic.  Since you will not be using him for breeding and don't want damaged fences and I assume your goats are disbudded, just do him IF the horns come in.  If he is several months old and no horns he is probably polled. As a wether he will make a nice pet and your little goat will make an ideal buddy for him.  As herd queen Mama makes the decisions as to who stays in the herd. If Mama seems to consider him a herd member (although perhaps at the bottom of the pecking order) just keep him with them, as long as she isn't injuring him.  As the other goat kids all grow he will establish a place for himself.  Enjoy.


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## Queen Mum (May 6, 2015)

When do I wean him?  He is growing pretty well.  Boy does that little tail wag wildly when he has his bottle and his feet shuffle back and forth like mad.  

He's doing really well despite his palsy which has settled down quite a bit. He loves to be brushed.   He gets a dreamy sheep smile and falls asleep at some point while being brushed and combed and falls over.  It's pretty amusing when that happens.  He's usually leaning on me so he slides down my leg.


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## purplequeenvt (May 6, 2015)

How old is he? He's probably close to weaning age, but it wouldn't hurt to keep him on the bottle a little longer.


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## Queen Mum (May 6, 2015)

I think he is getting close to three months.  He looks and acts about the same age as my baby goats.  His testicles are still very small so I know he isn't close to puberty yet and he is barely grazing.  Do rams get smelly when the get near puberty, like goats?


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## purplequeenvt (May 6, 2015)

They have an odor, older rams more than young boys, but nothing like bucks. 

I'd castrate him soon, if I were you. Bottle rams are much more likely to become aggressive than bucks. 

I'd start cutting back in his milk. If you are feeding 3x a day, cut back to 2 or from 2 feedings down to 1. After a while just stop bringing a bottle. Just make sure he is eating grass, hay, and grain well.


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## Queen Mum (May 6, 2015)

Thanks for the advice.  I will castrate him next week.  He's on two feedings so I will cut out his evening feeding. He seems less interested in that one lately.


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## SheepGirl (May 7, 2015)

Bottle lambs can be weaned at 30 days. You are safe weaning him at any point.


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