Ram attacking Wether companion

[Stempelfarm]

I have a 2 year old ram who lives with his 5 year old wether buddy. They have lived together since we bought the ram home 1.5 years ago. They have always been friends, and have gotten along very well. We used our ram for breeding for the first time last fall, while we were breeding the ewes we had all of the sheep, ram and wether included out on a 3 acre pasture. After we were sure all the ewes were bred, the boys went back in the ram pen. The ram pen is about 500 sq feet. Recently, every night at dusk, the ram has been frantically chasing the wether around in the pen. He chases and chases, and tries to hump him. The wether wont stand for it, so he runs away. This goes on for 5-10 mins. Eventually, the ram becomes incredibly aggressive, and starts charging the wether. He charges him at full speed, and throws him into the fence, over and over again. It is awful, and the wether usually ends up with a bloody nose, panting and gasping for air. Tonight, the wether was exhausted, and, the ram was exhausted too from chasing him, yet still continued. They were both panting, tongues out, foaming at the mouth, and running around. It literally goes on until the ram can't stand any more. It is too dangerous for me to get in there with them to break it up, so I just yell from the sidelines, and they eventually stop. I tried to put the wether in with the ewes, but I'm not sure if the ram should be alone. He seemed very distressed, and spent the day pacing the fence and calling out to the other sheep. Our ram has never shown aggression toward me or the ewes, and he is a handsome fellow who I'd like to continue to use on my ewes, but I love the wether. He is as friendly as a dog, and I'm quite attached to him. I'm not sure how to remedy the situation, but I can't watch the violence any more. Do they need more room? Do I need to add another sheep to change the dynamic a bit? Any information would be so appreciated.

 

[bonbean01]

It is not unusual for some head butting, but from your description, it is more than that! Is it possible that some of your ewe's are in heat right now and ram smells that? I've turned a water hose on that kind of behaviour and it stops it, but only temporarily...so not a good solution. Our last ram got so bad that he ended up with no friend and his ram pen was beside the ewes and lambs...they slept beside him at night and he seemed content with that...they could see and hear and smell each other through the fence.

We were trying to have a breeding plan....hahahahahaha...no matter what, our lambs come in January...weaning lambs made no difference...separating the ram made no difference...so, this year we go back to doing this the easy way...moms wean the lambs and the ram is in with them. Many will disagree with me, but this is just easier and no matter when we put the rams with the ewes, the lambs all come in January. They are hair sheep and not seasonal breeders, but with the very hot summers here and probably affecting the ram's fertility...it works for us and is so much less drama!!!!

We have a very small flock of sheep, so not sure if this works for you.

 

[SheepGirl]

Do you feed at dusk? What breed is the ram?

 

[Stempelfarm]

They are both navajo churro. I have a small flock of 6 ewes, 7 lambs, and the ram and the wether. I feed them at about 6:30am, and again between 6 and 7pm. The crazy behavior usually starts between 8 and 8:30