Best to have a weather in with your ram for company? Or not needed?

[EllieMay]

I also keep my ram in with my ewes until about a month prior to lambing. I have noticed that my ram will sometimes butt the girls away from his spot when he's eating, so I remove him to keep him from butting the pregnant girls. He is kept in the next paddock along with one or two LGD's. He likes the company of the dogs, so I do not need to worry about him being lonely.

And as for your ram that butts you, I agree to use him for breeding this year and then choose another ram next year that is more user friendly. I had a ram that liked to 'play' that way and I made sure I never engaged him. One day he was feeling particularly frisky and backed up quite a ways and came towards me. He didn't butt me but touched his head to my thigh and then backed up to do it again. Well, he needed to know that he cannot play that game with me cuz he's way bigger than I am, so as he came galloping towards me, I took off my boot and whomped him on the side of his face. He shook it off and got really embarrassed and turned to the ram lambs to see if any of them had witness his embarrassment. (It was FUNNY!) Needless to say, he has not tried to 'play' with me any more.

 

[Southdown]

We keep our ram separate almost all year. He only gets six weeks of glory for breeding purposes. I feel partly bad about it, because sometimes he does seem a little depressed. But when weighing the benefits v.s. the risks, I believe I make the right choice. He gets to see other sheep through fences and they can sniff, hear, and see each other. He likes that. He is actually quite excellent with newborn lambs. He is not as nice to the pregnant ewes because he believes the food is his and is not good about sharing. I want my pregnant girls well fed! Plus, I want to enjoy my flock and go in there to pet them and give treats. If my ram was in there all year, I couldn't do that because I'd have to watch my back. At one time, I had a wether with him and the wether died. We're still not sure if the ram killed the wether or he died of other causes. (It was an older topic on this website; so many possibilities.) So now, quite honestly, I'm a bit hesitant to give him another wether, for fear of someone dying again.

 

[horseshoeridge]

I was having some difficulty with our ram as a 2 year old this year but took my leather gloves and through the fence when he would run at me I would slap him on his nose, it took about 3 times and when I went in the pen he just has kept his distance since. In fact I use to walk up to him and put a rope on him if I needed to do something with him and he won't even come up to me for a scratch or anything, so now I am looking at another issue catching him. I still keep my eyes on him but he was fine with lambing last year and I don't expect it to be different this year. He just needed to be put in his place.

 

[Jeepn_girl]

My ram is in with the llamas.

 

[Womwotai]

Wow. I am still in my first year with sheep. I have a ram, 3 ewes and 2 ewe lambs (4 months old). They are all together and I just kind of took my ram for granted. He is gentle and kind and has never shown the slightest sign of any of the behaviors detailed in the previous posts, and since he's the only one I've ever had, I didn't realize they are not all as easy to keep around as he is. We started with 3 ewes, 2 wethers and the ram, but the same day the wethers went to the processor, we picked up the two little ewe lambs who at that time were only 2 months old. I put them out in the pasture with the ram and 3 ewes and watched for a little while. The ewes kind of butted them away so the ram took them "under his wing" and let them hang with him. Since that first day he has always watched out for them. When they all lie down to chew their cuds, the two little lambs will always be within touching distance of the ram and at grain time, the three of them eat out of one tub, while the 3 ewes and 2 goats fight over the other.

Like I said, I am new at this, but I am reading everything I can so I will know what to expect going forward. I appreciate the various points of view. I do have an area I could separate him if necessary but since everyone is currently getting along so well, I planned to let them stay together. The only disadvantage with keeping them together is I don't know due dates on the ewes, two of whom are starting to show (I think we're a couple of months out yet). Now I'm thinking I probably need to be prepared to separate him at lambing time if necessary, though judging by his response to the 2-month-old lambs, I'm hoping he'll be equally accepting and gentle with his own progeny when the times comes.

 

[SheepGirl]

If the ewes are starting to show, they are likely in the last 4-6 wks of pregnancy.

 

[Womwotai]

If the ewes are starting to show, they are likely in the last 4-6 wks of pregnancy.

That is good to know. I've been reading some of the lambing threads and compared to those ewes (some of which lambed 10 days to 2 weeks after the pictures were posted), mine are not nearly as wide. I did see the ram showing interest sometime in October which is why I figured we probably still had a couple of months to go. Of course, as of today it is February...

 

[purplequeenvt]

Don't go by width. That can vary from sheep to sheep and from year to year. I watch the udder development. That is more accurate.

If your ram bred the ewes in October then lambs would be due sometime in March.

What breed do you have?

 

[Womwotai]

If your ram bred the ewes in October then lambs would be due sometime in March.

What breed do you have?

We are all over the place. The ewes were sold as Dorset/Suffolk cross but when I asked the seller to clarify, he said he has 3 rams running with a bunch of ewes so its possible some of the lambs will be full dorset or full sussex while others will be mixed. At the time, we only wanted them to fatten on our pasture and intended to butcher them so it didn't matter.

Later we decided to butcher only the 2 wethers and keep the ewes, so we acquired the ram from an acquaintance, who did not know what breed he is, but I do know of the breeder he originally acquired his stock from, and I know she has hair sheep, primarily Dorper. So I think the ram is at least part Dorper.

Having decided to keep them and get a little more serious about learning sheep, the two new little ewe lambs we got in November are full Dorper and are quite "typey". Still, our offspring will always be mixes of some kind, unless we get another ram at some point (though after hearing how we lucked out and got such a nice one this time, I won't be in a hurry to replace him).

Thanks for the additional info re pregnancy! I should clarify that because they all run together, I can only guess on when they were bred. I did see him mating around mid-October but on the other hand, I saw him mating one of the ewes only 3 or so weeks ago. I don't know if she never got pregnant, or got pregnant and aborted so he is going for round two. They have a 7-acre pasture so she could abort out at the end of it and I wouldn't know it.

To the OP, I apologize for hijacking your thread - I had really only intended my original post to be a response/commentary but do appreciate the information that has been passed onto me as a result of it.