# Dorper/Blackbelly Ram -PICTURES!!



## Parsnip

Just wanted to tell people about the exciting news!
There's a *BIG* possibility of me getting a ram to breed my two open yearling ewes.
I'm going to take a look at him Friday, and I'm super excited!
He's a Dorper/Blackbelly cross which means he has horns, but that's alright.
This ram is decent sized, and very handsome.
There is some of this ram's offspring at the guy's place as well, so that's great!
The ram is affordable for me, a college student which is a plus.
Almost too good to be true, so I'm going to take a good look at this ram.
AND I told the guy I'd be coming with a lot of questions haha

I'll have to take pictures when I go and check out the ram 
If I decide to purchase him, it won't be until Spring Break, BUT always good to look at them beforehand.


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## Womwotai

Yay - look forward to hearing about the visit!


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## bonbean01

I'm looking forward to hearing about the visit too...and pictures!!!


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## Goat Whisperer

So exciting!!!!


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## alsea1

Cool. I'm looking forward to seeing him


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## Parsnip

Yes!
Tomorrow is the day!
I'll take pictures for sure and tell you guys what I think of him


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## Parsnip

ALRIGHT, I  went to see the ram after school.
He's small than I thought he'd be, but that is okay.
The ram is shorter to the ground and quite stocky, well muscled.
Still pretty wooly from winter, but I got to feel under the ram's pelt while the guy held the ram down.
I also checked the ram's feet, and they look recently trimmed(which they were)
He needs worming, probably, but that's not a huge deal for me.
If I buy this ram, I'll be getting him next weekend, because there is someone else who wants the ram as well.
I WANT TO GET THERE FIRST.
The guy who owns him said this ram was born on the property in April 2012.
The sire of the ram was a Blackbelly ram, and the mother was a Dorper cross.
So from what he said, the ram is 50% BB, 37.5% Dorper, and 12.5% Katahdin.
As of now, I'm calling the ram, Buttercup. Buttercup will probably become Christmas dinner though heehee











This picture is of a ram lamb that was born in December.
The lamb is Buttercup's offspring.


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## Womwotai

How fun!  So what are your plans for him?  Use him as a breeder this year and then butcher by the sound of it?  Is that more cost effective for you than using him as a breeder and then selling when you don't need him any more?  It sounds like there are plenty of potential buyers….


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## Parsnip

We don't have a permanent set-up for him at the moment.
We've build a lean-to connected to the outside of the barn. I guess if I modified things, we could keep him for a while more. It's a good place for a single sheep, so it'd be good for him.
Sheltered, fresh air, straw and wood chips for bedding.
But as of right now, I plan to use him in April for these two ....



So that would give me September lambs (maybe)

I've been having thoughts to keep him around to breed Wendy and MaryEllen in August though.
And maybe Irene, if she's big enough in October.
It'd be more work on my part, but in theory, I could keep him until November or so.
Then sell, or butcher.
I'm going to wait and see how he does here first 
Where I live there aren't a lot of people who regularly need rams. But we'll see.


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## Womwotai

I keep my ram in with the flock all the time.  It makes it guesswork as to when lambs will arrive but so far that's the only downside I've found.  And by keeping an eye on the ewes (vulva, udder etc) I've so far guessed it to within 12 hours of delivery so that's not too bad.


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## Parsnip

I'm one of those people who has to work on a schedule, and I have to know what is going to happen when lol
I schedule everything like crazy 

Within 12 hours?
WHOA THAT'S GOOD
I'm always like.... a day or two off.... or a week lol


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## Womwotai

Well, I would call it beginner's luck LOL.  I looked at the udder and vulva on one ewe one morning two weeks ago and her udder looked huge and her vulva swollen, so I came in and texted DH that we "might have a lamb soon".  That was around 9am and when I did evening chores at 4:30pm, the ewe showed up with a lamb that she birthed out in the pasture somewhere.  Six days later, I examined again and saw another that was red and puffy in the vulva.  She seemed to be happy off by herself that evening so first thing next morning I looked out at the pasture with binoculars and she had a lamb in tow.  Unfortunately, I missed both births, though both times I "felt" it would be soon.  I'd love to actually be there next time...


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## Goat Whisperer

Oh he is handsome!  Hope he works out for you!

You could always use a marking harness for the ram. They aren't to expensive and should give you a fairly accurate breeding/due date! Here is a link to one- harness.


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## bonbean01

That's a handsome boy...had wondered if he'd have horns...glad they curl that way...look less dangerous...LOL...have never seen that cross before and hope he works out great for you!!!!


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## Parsnip

HA Yeah I'm glad his horns aren't the ones that curl out horizontally. 
It'd look cool, but it'd be trouble 
( I'm also glad you guys think he looks okay )

I'm actually glad he's not a HUGE ram, but he is fast and built like a tank so lol who knows.
I've always wondered what Dorper/BB crosses looked like... haha
My dad really wants to have him butchered, but I want to keep him... 
So we're in that dilemma right now haha.


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## bonbean01

If it was me...I'd let him get one breeding season in and see what kind of lambs you get before thinking about butchering him...just my opinion.


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## Parsnip

That's what my argument is!
I mean, Wendy and MaryEllen will be well ready to breed again in August.
And Irene will probably be big enough in October.
No one's related to him either!
SO I WANT TO KEEP HIM.


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## alsea1

If you have your breeding ewes set up, then this ram could easily take care of things for quite some time. Specially since no one is related to him.
If he crosses nice on your flock it would be good to hang onto him.  Every time you bring a new animal in is a risk. With your own ram you reduce that risk a ton.


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## Womwotai

Alsea that brings up a question, or maybe Parsnip already knows the answer…..how long after giving birth is a ewe able to get pregnant again.  Or does it have to do with how long they are nursing?


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## boothcreek

My blackbelly ewes come back into heat 3-4 weeks after giving birth unless their body condition is really poor.


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## Parsnip

lol I have how he's going to stay with us all planned out in my head.
My dad thinks he'll be too dangerous. BUT AREN'T ALL RAMS DANGEROUS?
It's not like I'm going to crawl into his pen and sit with him lol 

He'll be "quarantined" for a while before I put him with the ladies.
I don't really plan to have any contact with him other than feeding him and giving him water.
Last time we had rams here, they were pretty chill once they got their grain and ladies.


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## Parsnip

Yes!
I don't want him to breed with Wendy and MaryEllen for a few more months, so I'd keep them separate.


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## Womwotai

Oh wow.  My first lamb is already 3 ½ weeks old!


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## Womwotai

Parsnip said:


> lol I have how he's going to stay with us all planned out in my head.
> My dad thinks he'll be too dangerous. BUT AREN'T ALL RAMS DANGEROUS?


My ram has never shown the slightest hint of aggression and I am in with him all the time.  Sometimes he looks at me with his big, kind eyes and it seems like he's trying to figure something out.  Other times he'll come up and sniff whatever I am holding.  He's not handleable so if I were to reach and try to touch him, he'd move away, but no, not all rams are dangerous (though I know some are, so your dad's fears are not completely groundless).


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## Parsnip

Haha, what an awesome ram!
I really want to see how our guy acts once he's settled down at our place.
I bet once he has grain and ladies he'll be good to go


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## Parsnip

Womwotai said:


> Oh wow.  My first lamb is already 3 ½ weeks old!



Our first lambs are 32 days old


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## Parsnip

Speaking of lambs, at what age can they begin to reproduce?
( I know not for a while now for the ram lambs )
I was watching the younger ram lamb today, Marty, and he was ya know, mounting Irene and Samson and Jillian, I figured for dominance and what not.
Then, he mounted Jillian and started doing some hip action and stuff.
THEN he went over to Wendy and stuck his little nose right up to her vulva!
I'm sure she was quite offended, because she turned on Marty.
But as soon as she went back to her food, Marty did it again, and kicked his front leg out like rams do.
Plus he attempted to mount her, but he's quite small, so nothing worked lol.
He followed her around for a while sniffing her lady bits, not interested in her udder at all .... -_-
It stopped after a while...

But JEEZ. He's acting more ram-y than Samson, and he's half Samson's age. :/


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## Parsnip

YES
Plans to pick up the ram Saturday morning are all set in stone now!
GAH just so excited to get this guy


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## greenmulberry

He really is a good looking guy, very masculine.


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## Goat Whisperer




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## Parsnip

TODAY IS THE DAY
A little bit slow this morning because last night I had this really bad migraine behind my eyeball SHEESH
Made me hurl and all that fun stuff.

But that's not stopping me from getting the ram today 
I'll post pics of him once he's settled into his new bachelor pad.


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## Parsnip

We have him home now.
HE IS A HANDFUL

We had to tie his legs together, then rope his horns and drag him through the mud into the trailer...
IT was quite the morning.
But now he'll get grain, water and some nice grass to chomp on.
Pics later????


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## alsea1

LOL. Apparently he felt leaving his old digs was not a good plan. 
I can't wait to see more pics.
Ewe Three's little ram lamb behaves very stud like already as well.  Even more so than Zip, my replacement ram.  I'm starting to worry a little about my choice of ram replacements.  Hopefully Zip wakes up and smells the coffee soon. LOL


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## hilarie

He's a gorgeous boy.  I say go for it!


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## bonbean01

Looking forward to more pictures!!!!  Sounds like you had quite the time of it!!!


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## Womwotai

I'm looking forward to pictures too - glad it worked out and you were able to get him home.  Hope he is settling in well….


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## Parsnip

I FORGOT ABOUT THE TIME CHANGE.
Woke up at what I thought was 8:00am
It was really 9:00am sheesh

Went down to check on Buttercup this morning, and feed everyone.
He has the most rough, old man sounding voice I think I've ever heard.
That mixed with Pax's rough voice will make for interesting vocal lambies. AWESOME
I love it when they have hilarious deep voices haha




Here's the big boy!
He's a real chunk! I'm hoping him mixed with Pax and Diana's long legged, lean bodies will create a good lamb crop.
OH BOY


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## bonbean01

Congrats on your new handsome ram!!!!  And yes, a ram's baaaaaaaaaa is pretty manly for sure.  Hope he's a good ram for you and wishing beautiful babies for you!!!!!


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## Parsnip

Well, it was bound to happen, but Buttercup escaped!
I think he dug his way out from underneath?
Where there's a will, there's a way I suppose.
I think it's one of those ,"I don't know how, but it just happened" instances. lol

The only way to get him back in his little separate area was to put Pax and Diana in there first.
SO he's now with the two girls in his little bachelor pad, which he ran ragged, so it's basically half mud, half grass.
I put straw down on the mud, so it's not so hard on their legs.
He did his do with Pax right away, but Diana is scared half to death of Buttercup, so it might be a while.
I guess I'll keep them together for another week or so.
The only downside is that I can hear Diana hollering from up here at the house.
I hope she doesn't attract unwanted attention from nearby cougars or bobcats...


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## alsea1

I think you may need to consider hot wire. Its great stuff.  Get a powerful box though.


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## Parsnip

Pfffft, I hope Buttercup likes that ragged, just rolled out of bed look that the ladies have right now.
Pax is shedding like none other, she's so itchy and there are clumps of hair stuck in the fencing.
The weather has been lovely the past two weeks or so. It looks like Pax might shed out completely clean? 



I also put a purple collar on her... to make her look pretty for the ram hahaha


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## Parsnip

WELL Buttercup has reached the end of his days I think.

Yesterday he was chasing after Diana inside the barn, and then he kept head-butting her into the ground, and doing his thing with her.
He was standing over her and wouldn't let her get up. Diana was trying to scrabble away and was yelling, but he kept knocking her down and smashing her against the barn wall and the ground. 
I separated the two, and left Buttercup with Pax, whom he was not paying attention to.
BUTTERCUP GOT SO ANGRY.
He was backing up and ramming the gate, and then he started backing up and ramming into Pax.
GUH. 
Today he's no better. He's being really violent with the girls, and my dad was worried he'd really hurt one of the ewes. SO it's butcher day.


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## alsea1

Gosh. That's a bummer.
Are you guys going to butcher him?
I sure wish it had worked out better.


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## Parsnip

I KNOW. Good thing he was under $100.... bah
I was really wanting to keep him but honestly, he was hurting Diana and Pax. That scared me so bad...
He literally would not let Diana get up.... she was making the most horrible screaming noise.. UGH Hate to think about that! Pax has a scrape on her leg from being thrown into the gravel by Buttercup.
Cleaned the scrape and she's alright now.
Any offspring of Buttercup's will be wether lambs, lol NO rams out of him.

He is already hanging.
First time for Pa and I, so we looked through LOTS of pictures on what to do and how to do.
Plus Pa has seen deer being cleaned before, so he assumed it was sort of the same.
I'd say not too shabby for the first time doing this sort of thing 
I bet he'll be mostly stew meat, due to a few accidental cuts into his shoulder meat oops
Pa kept the head, and tied it to a tree WAY on the edge of our property.
So the birds and bugs can pick at it and maybe by summer or fall next year, he can take it down and bleach it or something. WHO KNOWS.

Also dang he was incredibly heavy.


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## alsea1

Sounds like you guys did just fine.
I wouldn't worry too much about a few cuts here and there.
He will taste great. Our Rambo was around seven or so and he is very good tasting and the steaks are very good.
Is Wendy or Mary Ellen by any chance in heat?
I got to thinking that possibly if they are that might explain Buttercups behavior a bit.  Rams are all testosterone for the most part and not too bright. LOL
So far Zip is pretty timid.  I plan to try and keep it that way.


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