[Jacob-list] Putting rams together

[Jacobflock at aol.com]

Fred Horak here.  You are on the right track by putting rams into as small a 
place as possible with some physical impediments.   

We use many rams that come from several paddocks.  After the breeding season 
we do the "put them in a stall with hay bales" thing.   I have noticed one 
other behavior that seems to reduce the amount of serious butting.  If rams 
are fed grain, there seems to be more aggression than status seeking.  Just 
this week we put three rams together that had never been together...one in a 
run was getting a flake of "hay grazer" (sudan) hay and about a 1/3 of a can 
of what we call "all grain" becasue he was not on pasture.  We introduced two 
pasture only rams to his run.  After the usual smeall out the competition and 
leg action, the three quickly settled down with very little butting.

Previous experience was with two rams, both in runs, and they just didn't 
want to have anything to do with each other; butting was pretty heavy.  
Removed the grain ration and fed hay only.  The aggression seemed to be 
reduced.  

A robin doesn't make a Spring but there may be a "grain" basis for some 
aggressive behavior...protect and defend my feed.

Fred