[Jacob-list] Re: Castration - Development Inhibited?

[Neal and Louise Grose]

Tara has some good questions, I have some mediocre answers.

...."Raising Sheep the Modern Way" by Paula Simmons (page 82) on the subject
of raising your own ram says:

"The way ram lambs are raised can have some effect on their future
sexual performance.  Studies have shown that rams raised from weaning in
an all-male group will show lower levels of sexual performance in later
life. Some will actually show no sexual interest in receptive females."...

Answer:  For the record, I have seen NO decrease in libido in our rams. We
typically put a ram in with 50 or 60 ewes about the first of November and
have 90% of lambs dropped in April. Paula Simmons must of been talking about
those dumb Suffolk's. I have seen recommendations of one ram per 20 or 30
ewes on those.


....  If you wether a ram lamb, how
does this stunt his growth (horns, physical size, growth rate)?  Jacob
sheep have horns that are obviously influenced by male hormones (I
presume guessing here, testosterone maybe??) which then dictates large
horn growth in the male....

Answer: I do not see much difference in actual size between rams and
wethers. There is a difference that is especially noticeable during breeding
season in muscling in the neck and shoulders. Males castrated early have
horns much like the ewes. Fleece weight may be heavier in wethers.

 I have found it useful at times to have a relatively large, overstuffed,
relatively calm whether in a bachelor group. The whether becomes low man on
the totem pole and doesn't care. Otherwise, the low ram in the pecking order
is always trying to move up the pecking order and getting slapped back down.



...Here's another one too...fleece quality.  If you compare the ram and
wether's fleece to each other (I presume we accept that the best fleece
is the Jacob's first fleece and it degrades from there), would you feel
that the lack of being intact has had any affect on their fleeces
compared side by side (presuming you did not wether the brother because
his fleece was worse than his bros!)...

Answer: Testosterone has a clear effect on coarsening of the fleece as they
age. The first shearing of rams is little different from the ewes. We have
observed here that ram fleeces tend to coarsen at twice the rate of the
ewes, and has increased variation within the fleece. This is subject to some
debate, it is not clear how much change should be considered normal.

Neal Grose
Harmony, North Carolina

PS : As for intelligence of Jacobs, don't name the bottle baby "Sneaky"
unless you want him spending more time on the porch with the dogs than in
the pasture.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tara Higgins" <ranchrat at telusplanet.net>
To: "gf" <fayg at mebtel.net>; "Kelley Rambo" <Kelley_Rambo at antiochne.edu>;
"Neal and Louise Grose" <nlgrose at yadtel.net>; "Mary Ellen Hansson"
<mhansson1 at triad.rr.com>; <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2003 3:06 AM
Subject: [Jacob-list] Re: Castration - Development Inhibited?