[Jacob-list] On not selling a ramy

[Susan Nielsen]

Since we are on the subject of ram management, and since this
decision just kills me (who doesn't want to sell a ram now and
then?) I relate the following.

Last summer a couple came out to the place to look at rams. They
had just acquired "5 Jacob ewes" as a rescue flock (more on the
quotation marks in a minute), and were looking to complete their
collection.  They were pretty uninformed about sheep culture, so
I passed out my information sheets and list of references, talked
for a while about the kind of sheep Jacobs are, handled some
ewes, looked at yearlings, etc. I had a couple of likely rams
staked out in the grass so we didn't have to chase them down. Along
with the couple were their two young granddaughters, about 7 and 9
years old. They wanted to pet everything, and I gave them strong
instructions about the rams. We discussed the pros and cons of
horns, spots, fleeces... They were especially taken with the
Cute Ram, and looked right past the one with the good ramly posture
and attitude.

Anyway, they took pictures and went away to think about things.

Last week I heard from them again. They are still thinking about
getting a ram (though she insists on calling them "bucks." Also,
she calls the ewes "does," and no amount of correcting seems to
take effect). It turns out they have 3 ewes, not 5, since their
shearer told them two of them are wethers. Now they really want a
complete set. They want a cute wooly ram that their granddaughters
can play with.

Play with! I can't tell you how strongly I expressed the badness of
this idea. Like: you cannot let your granddaughters into the pen
with the ram! "Oh," she said, "would he butt them?" Butt them! He
could break their arms and legs, I told her. He could break their
heads. He is not a plaything.

She still wanted to know about the cute ram with the curly horns,
who, I had to tell her, we had culled because of curly horn issues.
"Can't you just cut them off?" she asked. "Our neighbors cut the
horns off their goats every year." So I explained (again) about
genetics, about inheritance of traits, about choosing a breeding
ram who is as good as you can find. "Couldn't you just sell him
cheaper?" A moot question, since he has already graced our table,
but I explained about us not selling or registering rams we know to
have certain kinds of compromises. And I said again that a ram is
dangerous.

Well, what about this year's ones, she wanted to know. Don't we have
any buck lambs? They could raise it up on a bottle and her
granddaughters would think it was cute. Cute is a big part of
the equation for her. No, I said. I mean, how could I even explain
this to her? You don't rip a lamb from his ma just to make him
cute. And then what? You have a _really_ dangerous, over-familiar
grown-up ram.

No. I don't think we have anything for you, I told her. I'm sorry, we
just don't. No.

It really does kill me to refuse to sell a nice ram. But I am 100%
certain these people will hurt themselves when they have one. I have
no doubt they will find one, but they won't get it from me. Sorry.

Too bad, though. I saw the green flashing in their wallets for a
minute.

Susan
--
Susan Layne Nielsen, Shambles Workshops      	|"...Gently down the
Beavercreek, OR, USA -- snielsen at orednet.org  	|stream..." -- Anon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Purveyors of fine honey, Jacob Sheep, Ashford spinning products
			and Interweave books