My big babies =D

[secuono]

Eh, I keep running out of time to band the ram lamb, could I still do it??

I kept the black and white ram and the white ewe lambs. The other three boys were all sold. They are now 15 and 16 weeks old, nearly as tall as their parents. They actually shot up in height pretty quick and have slowed now it seems.

Here is #8, Blanka. This lady always comes up to me for some good scratching, even when the lgd pup is with me. Her lamb is Skarpetki, the black/white ram. His name is Polish for Socks. He is developing black spots on his white socks, tired to get pics of them, but he doesn't want me getting too close.

Giving momma a scratch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5nmJPjktFA&feature=youtu.be

Here is the only ewe lamb we had, Pani, which is Lady in Polish.

 

[SheepGirl]

Your ram lamb is probably too mature to castrate now without a vet (at least I wouldn't band him/surgically castrate him myself; I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it).

But I love your ewe lamb's face...I'm a sucker for fluffy ears on Babydolls, I don't like the bald elf ears

 

[secuono]

I forget when I sold the other boys, but they were banded a day before they left and I was told they are doing fine. I'm guessing then would of been the best. Darn!

What could go wrong if I did band him now? How bad would the two rams fight? He was supposed to stay to keep the ram company during lambing when he is kept away. But now I have to keep this little guy away during breeding season...

 

[SheepGirl]

Well for starters, you'd probably need a calf bander 'cause I don't think the lamb size would fit But since he's more mature and he's at about the right age (4 months) to enter puberty, my guess it would hurt a lot more so I would give him some pain reliever so he doesn't stress out about the pain too much.

My ram was housed with another ram (actually it was 3 rams, but one went to auction) and yes, they would fight, but they never injured each other.

However, to introduce the two, I would put them in a very small pen. I penned my ram in with my wether while I was bringing my ewes up to my house and my poor wether was in the next pen over when I got down to bring them up (these pens are 8' wide x 11' deep and the partition is 4' high). Even though my wether and ram haven't been housed together in about a year, my guess is that my ram saw my wether as a 'threat' and so he started harassing my wether. Even though the wether is taller, he does not have the mass to compete with my ram so my guess is he jumped/climbed over the partition. So I would definitely recommend something smaller than 8'x11' if/when you first introduce the two.

You can still keep him as a ram, though, just make sure he doesn't escape to breed any ewes. You could also breed him to your ewe that isn't his mother or half sister so he can be put to use this year (you can have one ram and his ewes go in the ewe pasture and then the other ram and his ewes go in the ram pasture so you can maintain two separate breeding flocks). But if you don't use him, then yes you would be stuck with a separated critter...but if he were a wether, then he can just go out in the breeding flock with the ram.

So it's up to you and what you wanna do.

 

[secuono]

There's no introduction, they all live together. They all met the ram when they were about 4wks old.

 

[SheepGirl]

Gotcha. Well then I don't think there should be a problem with fighting if you were to pen them separately now or in the future.

 

[secuono]

You can see the ram in the background, only black sheep.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I think you could band him now. The bands may not fit, but you may be able to work one testicle through at a time. My rams are about the same age and I could probably fit a band around their testicles. Just keep an eye out for flies in the wound, and possibly go ahead and pick up some screw worm spray to spray him with after you band him.