norseofcourse's journal - spring and show update

[jodief100]

Yikes! I am sorry about the fence but even more sorry you had to fix it in this crazy weather. We are burning through hay like mad. Usually I feed stockpiled pastures to supplement the hay but with the snow and cold they just can't get out.

I wish I wasn't kidding till April, the last few weeks I am constantly checking on them.

 

[norseofcourse]

We are back into the deep freeze for at least another week. Tuesday and Wednesday nights are both predicted to have a low of -14F, and that's not counting the wind chill. I would guess we got 6 or 7 inches of snow today, although it was hard to tell because it was blowing around so much.

The sheep are still wasting hay - I saw Elding pawing at the hay in the feeder today, so I know how some of it ends up on the floor instead. Oh well, at least it's extra bedding to help keep them warm. I was looking over the extra lumber I have in the barn, and I have most if not all the 2 by 4's I'll need for Premier's hay feeder, so I may only need to buy a sheet of plywood. Someday. When the snow melts. Like, June...

I have people coming tomorrow for a spinning get-together, so I spent the day cleaning and putting stuff away. I can see most of the dining room table!

This winter is getting to me. Cold and wind, wind and cold, carrying hay and water over and over. In the barn I try not to look at the pony cart I got last month, since it will be months before it will be warm enough to refinish it and start using it. I can't ever remember it this cold for this long. Can I get some cheese with this whine??

ok, just to remind myself that spring and summer *will* come, here is Prince, my little rescue mini, at his first show last summer. He behaved very well and we had a fun time. This was in the cones course.

 

[jodief100]

He looks wonderful! You have done great with him.

Understand about the cold. I am sick of it too.

 

[norseofcourse]

Jodief - thanks!

Well, we made it through the latest really cold spell. Two nights at least ten below zero, and the day in between them barely above zero. I fed extra hay, tried to keep the sheep's water from freezing solid, and promised everyone that this cold wouldn't last too long. As bad as it was, I had it easy compared to many folks. I hoped and worried right along with everyone else, when I read the stories here of lambing and kidding in this cold - wow, I can hardly imagine that. And this cold has been working its way down to areas not used to (or prepared for) it, that's got to be rough, too.

When I went out to feed this morning, I discovered that the sheep had broken their mineral feeder. It was made out of PVC pipe, the type Straw Hat Kikos made and described in their journal. The sheep might have been rubbing up against it, and just cracked the one piece apart. I really liked it, I might replace the piece they broke, and see if I can put it up somewhere they might not be as likely to break it.

I got to see snow rollers yesterday! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but if you google you'll see lots. I've never seen them before, I guess it's pretty rare, when temperatures and conditions are just right for bits of snow to start moving and then pick up more snow as they roll along the ground. Most I saw were anywhere from 6 to 10 inches diameter, and some were hollow in the center.

It's supposed to go back above freezing for a little while this weekend. I'll welcome that, but we're also expecting more snow, and maybe rain or freezing rain. Then they're talking about another plunge back down next week - I sure hope it's not as bad as the last two cold spells were. Every day I just think, it's one day closer to spring!

 

[norseofcourse]

Well, we're still dealing with the cold and snow here. We had about 4 or 5 inches of snow the other day, then some rain/sleet on top of it, making a hard crust. I had to call in to work to say I'd be late, it took so long to get my car cleared off. On the plus side, it meant I was on the still snow-covered roads later, when there wasn't as much traffic, and a few places had been plowed.

I feed hay twice a day. First the ponies, then I take hay out to the sheep. I usually clean out their hay feeder before I put fresh hay in it, and give the 'old' hay to the ponies, who eat most of the rest of it. I take a round plastic muck bucket to put the old hay into. Then lately I'd been feeding Elding (my ram) a cup and a half of pellets/corn (mostly pellets). He's young, not quite a year old, and this was his first breeding season, and even though he only had three ewes to breed, I think he used up a lot of energy! Anyway, he'd felt a bit thinner than I liked, especially with this weather, so I'd been giving him the pellets. He's been mostly well-behaved when I come in with the pellets, then I open the door to a small pen where he goes in to eat, so the other sheep can't eat them. They don't even bother coming over anymore, they just eat the hay. I say 'mostly', because a few weeks ago, Elding reared up to get at the food when I brought it in. I hollered 'no', and he got down, then he reared up again (not trying to butt me, he just wanted the pellets). I hollered 'no' again, he got down, and I went out of their pen and put the feed away and went back to the house. Elding stood there and called to me as I walked away.... from the next day on, he was perfectly behaved as I brought him his pellets!

I've read a lot about rams and other people's experiences with them, and I've been glad mine has been so well behaved. He loves to be petted (I don't pet his head), and I've never seen him make any aggressive moves toward me. I didn't know if it was his breed (Icelandic), or his basic temperament, or if I was just lucky, or if he was just too young to be mean.

However, lately he's seemed to be a little more... active. Jumping around, a little pushy (never to me). Not sure if it's because I also fed one of the other sheep (the wether) some pellets a few times this past week, or that's just a coincidence. I fed the wether pellets after I'd fed Elding, but Elding knows what that feed pan is, and he didn't seem happy that he wasn't being fed more.

Well... tonight, I went out to feed. I put the old hay in the muck bucket, and put it aside as I got ready to get the hay to fill the feeder. And Elding was standing there looking at me. He was about six feet away. He backed up a little bit, then ran toward me, but he didn't come all the way to me, he stopped about 3 or 4 feet away. I don't remember if I said anything to him or not... Then he backed up and did the same thing again! I'm pretty sure at that point I hollered at him, and he just stood there looking at me. I knew I had to do something that would not lead him into more 'ram games', so I picked up the muck bucket that was sitting right there, and whapped it into him sideways. It was enough to snap him out of it, and he walked away and didn't do anything else as I got their hay and filled the feeder. I stayed for awhile as they ate, and Elding was back to his normal calm self.

Elding's been in with the girls since mid November, and he figured out he was a ram pretty fast, but he was fine with me all winter. Is he going through a stage? Is it because spring is coming, or because he's nearly a year old now? I sure hope he does not start getting aggressive, and I can nip whatever this is in the bud.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I don't know anything about sheep, but I have heard that rams tend to be dangerous. I hope he was just out of his own mind for a minute and comes around before you decide he would be better off as burgers......

 

[purplequeenvt]

My advice....if he comes at you again, grab him, flip him over onto his side, and hold him there until he stops struggling, then let him up. No yelling, no hitting. Do this every time he tries to butt you. Eventually he should get the message that you are the boss and he shouldn't even consider messing with you.

You need to show that you are dominate without creating fear. If you handle things right you can probably nip this behavior in the bud and have a nice ram. There is such a thing as a nice, well-behaved ram. All of our breeding rams are that way and one of them was even a bottle baby (gasp!). They are pet and loved on, but they have learned to respect and trust people.

Whacking him with a bucket, a stick, or your hand just perpetuates the aggressive mentality, IMO. We had a ram that we purchased that was aggressive. Part of it was just him, but some of his aggression came from a fear of being hit. I noticed that he would be ok with us until someone made a quick movement with their hand and then the head went down and he got defensive. I worked with him the two years we had him and by the time we were done with him (and he went in the freezer) he was so much better.

Pay attention to your ram's body language, learn what actions you might be doing that trigger his behavior.

 

[norseofcourse]

purplequeenvt - thanks for your input! It seemed like it happened so fast, and flipping him over did cross my mind, and I think I might have done that if he had actually made contact with me, or come really close.

If he tries anything again, what part of him do I grab ahold of to flip him? He doesn't have horns. And what do I do if he runs when I go for him? He can run faster than I can...

He had a different stance and look in his eyes when this happened. Do I flip him if I see that again, or only if he actually makes an aggressive move towards me?

I'm not sure what triggered this, it's the same feeding routine I've done for months. I know feeding time can bring out bad behavior though, so maybe it's time for a change in my setup. The hay feeder I want to build (Premier1's design) would stop the waste and the extra step of cleaning out the feeder so often, and probably hold a couple days worth of hay, too.

 

[norseofcourse]

I flipped Elding this morning.

I went out to feed, and managed to close the gate at the opening to the barn's run-in area with Elding and Gracie outside, so Elding couldn't bother me as I cleaned out the hay feeder and refilled it. Then I let them in, and started to chip the ice out of the water bucket to refill it. Elding started coming towards me, making little 'practice rushes' back and forth. So I went for it.

I went toward him when he was close, and grabbed him at his neck and back, just wherever I could get ahold of him. It took a bit of doing to flip him over, I had to practically pick him up to do it (at least he's a smaller breed ). I held him down, and he stopped struggling, but he was still 'tense', and still had that different look in his eyes, so I just kept ahold of him. It wasn't long before he struggled again, then he stopped and I felt him relax, and the look in his eyes changed back to normal. At that point I let go, and he got back up.

It definitely helped! He went over to the hay feeder and started eating. I refilled the water, and while he sometimes looked at me or walked around a little, he didn't make any more aggressive moves toward me. The other sheep seemed a little unsure about me - I've never had a problem with any of them, but they've never seen me do something like that.

So, we'll see how long he remembers this. If I have to do it again I will, but I'm hoping I'm catching this early enough to keep him from becoming a mean ram.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Good for you! He may need a refresher course every once in a while, but if he's smart, he'll figure out what's up and be respectful.

We have used the Premier feeders for years now. They are great. Ours are outdoors and have held up remarkable well. Right now we have 4 outdoor feeders and 2 that are built into the barn in the ewe paddock. The 4 outside ones are the perfect amount of space for all the ewes and yearlings so we grain in those feeders and keep the 2 in the barn full of hay. That way they can have hay all the time in this cold weather, but they don't have to stand out in the snow to eat it and we don't have to move the leftover hay out of the way to grain every day.