Father - To - Be

[Sheepshape]

We have had our first day for weeks with some sunshine. All the sheep are loving it.

Here is Goliath....expecting upwards of 40 lambs....not that he cares a hoot about THAT !

He is massive but has a very sweet temperament. Does he look smug?

 

[alsea1]

He looks to be thinking
"Hey. What about a butterscotch candy"

 

[Sheepshape]

Alsea1 you may well be right. He is very used to me hand feeding him sweet biscuits and pushes his (big!) nose into my pocket whenever I am
filling the silage feeder in the hope that there are biscuits there. Maybe this is just his begging face.

 

[Southern by choice]

that's a cute PIC!

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

He is a beautiful boy!!!!

 

[eweinHiscare]

Goliath, the father of many!
yeah, give him some goodies to munch on, he deserves it!
He has a pleasant face, not pugnacious like my ram.

 

[Sheepshape]

He is huge, but is very friendly. I have 6 rams of which 5 out of 6 being born here. I really only need 1 or 2 for breeding,but the boys all live together and don't fight.

I am absolutely lucky that they are equally friendly to people as each other and I feed them etc. Most will come over for a 'cheek rub' and they are 'perfect gentlemen' to me (which is just as well as the big guy probably weighs about 70 lbs more than me). A much better situation than a few years back where we had a breeding ram named Ivor.....but he had a lot of other names which I called him. I could NEVER turn my back on him and was very happy when a neighbouring farmer asked to do a swop.

 

[eweinHiscare]

Maybe my Katahdin ram is too bored because he is alone most of the year.
So he has nothing to do but take it out his frustration at me, like try to bash my hand when I'm dumping oats in his dish.
I don't dare go into his pen now. His days may be numbered.

The other rams that are with Goliath, are those his sons ?
Did you put them in with him while they were less than a year old?
I am trying to understand why they don't fight with each other.

 

[boothcreek]

Once a pecking order is established Rams should be mellow together away from ewes. Naturally they live in bachelor groups without any females outside of breeding season(yeah I know that's wild sheep, but usually the key/base behaviours are still there in the domestics).
I have 4 unrelated rams of various ages together and unless they are penned with the girls and 1 is in heat there is no squabbles. I think that does keep them occupied and gives them a more healthy(for people) outlet for any "excess energy". They play-fight, and goof around like lambs some days which helps re-affirm status without actual fighting.

Goliath looks like a sweetheart!

 

[Sheepshape]

Spot on boothcreek. Goliath is nearly 3. Initially (at 18 months) he was in a field with a very stocky 8 year old from a neighbour,never really socialised. I introduced them in the shed by penning them side by side for a day or two so they got used to the sight and smell of each other (not in breeding season). They were inseparably friends from then on. Interestingly the 8 year old,Freddie, proved to be very sweet-natured,too, and became as tame as Goliath (what's that about old dogs and new tricks?)

I think Goliath's nature is key. He is not aggressive at all. Since then ram lambs and another ram have been introduced to him and he 'shows who is boss' by sweeping along the side of the feeder etc, but rarely resorts to head butting with them.

During the breeding season he will send any ram away from 'his women', but remains respectful to people. I usually have only the one ram in a field with the ewes at any time,though.The ram lambs seem to have learned his good habits.