Ram Butting Thread - Share Techniques to Prevent...

[meloout831]

Very good tips guys! I've been thinking of getting a good herding dog with power to bring down a ram if needed. What do you guys think of a catahoula? They make good hog dogs... I wonder about sheep.

 

[secuono]

Stick the sheep in with horses, they will teach the sheep to buzz off when they stomp their feet. Then you can do the same.
Or get a lunging whip and smack their bums when they think about charging.
Or, learn why they are doing it and then change yourself so they don't see you as a threat.

 

[meloout831]

I like your suggestions, thanks. As a matter of fact I think a donkey would be just as good.

 

[Sheepshape]

It's a lot down to their personality, too. A horned ram with too much attitude is a dangerous animal.

There are some very good tips on here, but lots of contact with people and a clear message given that the owner will stand no nonsense always helps.

I bred a very good ram lamb a couple of years ago, Ifor, (later re-christened Ifor the A***hole). If you turned your back on him,he would head butt. I took to carrying a short stick and rapping his nose (as suggested above) when he (inevitably) tried to head butt when feeding him. Local big scale farmer spotted him when visiting one day and asked to swop for a big ram he had. This farmer is known for his tough stance. He swopped for Freddie (un-named until he came to us), a truly massive ram, over 100kg of muscle, bone, and breeding tackle.Initially very shy, this guy has proven to be the exact opposite of Ifor. He is name quite friendly, loves biscuits, follows like a lamb and is never, never aggressive with people. I don't even think about watching my back when feeding the rams now. He, and the equally massive Goliath (Blue Faced Leicester ram) plus my two ram lambs are a delight.
If they are too nasty, they should go in my opinion.

I ended up in leg plaster for 6 months due to a nasty billy goat, I'm sure none of us want that!

 

[purplequeenvt]

It goes back to ram lambs being played with - dont do it

Arrgh! I dislike this idea so much! It is not true! One could easily (and truthfully) say that we play with our ram lambs. From day one they are held and kissed and cuddled, but they are also taught manners - no jumping, no play butting, etc... When they are 4 weeks old we start halter training and that helps teach them a lot respect. As they reach 6 mos - 1 year, some may need a little reminder once in a while who is in charge, but a ping on the nose or a shove with the foot is usually all it takes. By the time they are 1 1/2 - 2 years, they are calm. well-mannered rams who may or may not come over to see you when you go in a pen or pasture, but there is no need to be afraid of them. Heck, we have even had former bottle babies around here as muture breeding rams. Our first ram was a bottle baby and a 4 year old could have handled him. I need my rams to be calm and easy to handle so I handle them a lot so that they are used to it and respect me. Sorry for the little rant.....

Oh purple it is true and you subscribe to that by intervening normal playtime very early on by teaching manners, no jumping, no play butting and leading up to halter training at only 4 weeks old.
My point is alot of good folks dont do that and manage the play thing only, which almost always leads to a boisterous ram with very little respect for the person walking with a target on their arse
With all the effort you put in then you deserve a friendly calm ram - I wish I had the time and patience to do things your way - dont suppose I can drop off my 2 week old Romney and mum with you and pick them up in the Fall

Haha! Of course!

 

[Rambunctious]

O.K., I'm new here. But I had to post a success I just had with my Katahdin ram! He's 2 1/2 years old and has been great. An excellent breeder, gentle with everybody, including me.

About 8 months ago, I seperated him to a different paddock when he started after the ewe lambs. This was fine, he had a honeymoon suite and girls to himself.

Then, suddenly, I went into the paddock with him like I had hundreds of times before to clean his water tub, when POW!!! He hit me in the thigh! He proceeded to hit me twice more before I could get out of the gate. In retrospect, I'm sure they were 'friendly' hits since he didn't break my leg, so he must have pulled his punches. After that, he tried hitting me through the fence a number of times.

I put him up for sale on Craigslist and since he started shedding, he looks like crap. I decided to try to snatch off any loose wool that I could get ahold of from over the fence. It got to be quite fun! He would walk by, I'd snatch a handful of wool (or 2). I'd feed him by the fence and snatch away. HE HATED IT!!! He got to where he wouldn't come near me, so I stepped it up a notch. When I snatched a hank, I clapped my hands loud. He jumps and backs up!

Today, I walked into his paddock. He looked at me, I clapped my hands and reached for him, and he RAN BEHIND HIS HOUSE AND HID! He didn't come out until I left the paddock.

Perhaps my actions seemed like torture, but remember that hair sheep shed anyway, and all I was pulling was last winters wool that he was rubbing off already. The key thing is that I found an action that he didn't like and that didn't trigger any sort of 'fight response'. It also caused no injury. Finally, he looks much better for potential buyers, and now has the appropriate respect for me, at least for now.