[Jacob-list] sensibility

[ARTHUR PARTRIDGE]

--Betty wrote:

>Tara, go right on handling your rams if you want to but please be very,

very careful...Handled rams are the ones who aren't afraid or >respectful
of you, and all of a sudden, out of a clear blue sky, for no apparent
reason, one day, one of them could come from behind and >break your back...
=======
Very true.  Many longtime sheep owners know this to be true.  One main
thing I learned over the 13 years as a subscriber to Sheep-list on the
Internet is to never pat, scratch, or hand feed a ram.  It is one of those
unwritten laws that some of us have to learn the hard way.  I obey the law
now, but with my first ram I scratched him often and then had a game where
I would throw large snow balls in the air and he would run up and ram them.
Such fun for both of us. As I made the snowball, he would back up, getting
ready to smack them.  I don't do any of that anymore, no scratching or
patting, etc, the new rams respect me and I don't have an aggressive ram
like the first one was.  I had the first ram for 13 years, but I wouldn't
ever keep an aggressive ram again.  Too risky to us and especially the
neighbors if an aggressive ram gets away..

Cathy
Moscow, Idaho