Is it normal for male ram sheep to violently headbutt the walls?

[soarwitheagles]

Thanks for the great advice everyone! We will keep a close eye on little limpy ewe!

A local rancher was trying to console me after missing the sheep deal. He said, "Look at it like this: maybe all the babies would have been half miniature sheep and half pygmy goat!" Needless to say, I didn't feel very consoled and had to buy another box of Kleenex's to wipe away all the crocodile tears...

 

[Baymule]

Before we bought our sheep, I missed a deal of 15 Dorper ewes and a ram for $1500. The ad was up less than an hour. The people were moving and had to get rid of them.

 

[Mike CHS]

I have seen a few of those deals but they don't last long.

 

[FunInTheSun]

Hi!

We recently built a new sheep house. I attached plywood for the walls, with some 1.5" x 3" studs. Everything was fine for several weeks and then...

About one week ago, we began to be woken up nearly every night with super loud banging noises. Security video footage revealed the culprit...our American Blackbelly ram was violently smashing his head into the wall of the sheep pen.

After 2-3 days of this non-sense, he managed to smash the plywood right off the studs...man, not cool at all!

I have some questions...

1. Is this normal?
2. Why does he do it?
3. Should I expect this behavior to continue?

Last, I was planning on wrapping a 2"x6" planking all around the sheep pen at the ram's head's height.

Anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks,

Soar

I laughed right out loud, in a sad kind of way, when I read your posts! Our American Black Belly ram has DESTROYED our pole building and metal walk-through doors. He's knocked metal gates off their hinges and woken us and our neighbors up at all hours of the night. We installed electric fence lines, at head butting height and put t-posts in front of every gate so he can't get a running start at them - making it more than inconvenient for us to get equipment through the gates. Sigh. We had a ram who died of old age and never had a problem like this with him. The old guy was our first ram, so we weren't sure until we read your (and others') posts that the AB's behavior isn't something all rams do. I think that little AB is set for a craigslist.org post or the BBQ. I'm done! Thanks so much for sharing your post! It's good to know we're not alone in this!

 

[Blue Sky]

Be careful around that ram. They charge people too. I stopped my battering ram by painting a big face on the wall he hit.

 

[FunInTheSun]

Be careful around that ram. They charge people too. I stopped my battering ram by painting a big face on the wall he hit.

I don't go into the pasture with him! As hard as he smashes into the walls, etc., he would most certainly break bones if he decided to charge me. My husband takes a 6'x2"x2" with him when he goes in the pasture and just holds it in front of him. The little *%$& will stop just short of smashing the 2x2, but hubby has to be real careful of those horns. The unfortunate thing is the little guy makes good babies and hubby has gotten a bit attached to the little monster!

 

[Blue Sky]

That’s the trade off. Be careful and take a whacking stick.

 

[Mike CHS]

I think I will stick with Katahdin rams

 

[secuono]

He sounds like a very sexually frustrated boy.
Rams actually breed each other, which seems to help mellow them out.
My rams have a loose cycle of light arguing amongst themselves, followed by several days of breeding each other. Then back to indifferent with each other.

 

[FunInTheSun]

I think I will stick with Katahdin rams

Thanks for the suggestion!