[Jacob-list] new guy

[Joe & Betsy Guarino]

I'm the new guy on the list -- a homeschooling mom with 4 ewes and 3 rams, among goats, chickens, geese, rabbits and Aussies (not to mention our childre) here in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
The three rams are my problem, for which I need advice:
One is 2.5 years old, and has already got sisters, daughters and granddaughters in my flock, so I guess he's got to go.
The next is a ram-lamb from this year's lambing season that I guess will have to be culled (he's conforming to standard, but just barely, and no-one has answered ads about him as a 4H project, etc).
And the third is our new addition, a great looking, well-behaved ram-lamb to replace the  old guy.
The Question is: What to do with our "old" ram?  I've advertised him locally, no bites, even though he produces great babies and would make a great herd sire for someone.  He's a friend, so we don't want to take him to the slaughterhouse and put him in the freezer (although I wouldn't mind that nice rug his pelt is going to make some day).  Is Mutton really any good? We do eat a lot of venison around here, and I figure it must be about the same?
I don't want to put the new ram in with him and start a ruckus.  Do you all replace your herd sire every two or three years?  Do you keep the rams in separate pastures from the ewes?  (We've kept ours in year-round, as we only had one and Jacobs only breed once a year)  Wouldn't that cause the ram to go nuts, and knock down fencing to get to his girls? 
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