[Jacob-list] Re: butting rams

[Melody]

My ram has started really bashing things in the last year (he is now 3).  A
real sweetie with me but has almost demolished one side of the chicken
house, broke off the upright timber by the door of his shed (fortunately the
other uprights are still holding) and has done major damage to trees by
butting and hooking them with his horns. He and his wether buddy had about
half an acre to themselves when this started, and I had put in some "sheep
toys".  I thought it might stop when I put him in with the ewes, and it has
to some extent, but he has still all but taken down a couple of  smaller
juniper trees in the ewe pasture.   I keep threatening him but he doesn't
listen .  I'm going to show him my recipe for mutton stew, up close and
personal, if he isn't careful!
Melody at CritterLand
Redmond OR

Linda wrote
I had a ram like that.  He was pretty good until he turned two.  He had, in
his growing up years, made threatening
moves towards me.  I kept throwing water in his face until he quit that
behaviour.  But, he then got more and more
aggressive towards any structure.   You couldn't even walk by outside the
fence if you were carrying a board without
him charging the fence.  He wouldn't charge people walking by unless they
were carrying something.  He put holes in
every wall he could reach.  I made him a special shelter where he didn't
have access to the sides.  It had a low roof
and he began to charge the roof.  That was a sight. He spent his last few
months with us standing in the rain.  He was
with his ewes when the behaviour started, so I can't say that he was bored
or lonely.  He managed to tear one of the
doors off the trailer on the way to the butcher.  Then managed to knock a
board almost off the bull pen at the
butchers.

I wish I could come up with a remedy other than mine.  This ram got
progressively worse.  I got him soccer balls to
beat up on, threw in metal garbage cans for him to vent on, nothing ever did
even slow him down.

Just a note:  I have not seen a higher percentage of aggressive behaviour in
his descendants.  In fact, some have been
among the mellowest.

Linda

On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 13:06:11 -0500, Donnangelo,Nicholas C. wrote:
>My wife and I have a small flock of one breeding group so we generally
>separate the ram from the ewes in September (we are in northern Virginia)
and
>keep the ram with the ewes until lambing when we remove him again for a
month
>or so.   Anyway our ram - who is now running with the ewes has become
>increasingly destructive; butting our run in shed until one of the 4x4
>uprights was actually broken and the structure near collapse.  I repaired
that
>and now he knocked a hole in the plywood wall of the shed.  There is no
sign
>of aggression to any of the other Jacobs, or two full size donkey's we run
>with them (although he will take hay from the donkey's at will; they'll pin
>their ears at him but he is clearly top dog), or with us.  Horses will get
>into trouble if they are bored...  has anyone else had this problem?
>recommendations?  Thanks Nick
>
>
>
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