I raised a completely intact bottle-ram called Marley. He was abandoned by his mom, brought to a vet, the assistant took him home and saved him and I got him when he was 3 months old.
I have heard many stories on this forum about tipping them backwards and other strategies that teach them a lesson, and I tried them all. Nothing works on Marley. That said, he has the single most impressive rack of any of the 5 intact rams I have for breeding. Now, he appears to be teaching this behavior to his almost 2 year old son, Ziggy who he lives with. So I just deal with them as little as possible, _MWS On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 5:56 PM, Margaret Smith <femm...@scinternet.net> wrote: > Most of last year's lambs are now just over a year old. We did a poor job of > castrating the males. Most of them would be called "proud-cut" if they were > horses. They have their secondary sex characteristics, such as the horns and > the attitudes, regardless of whatever reproductive capabilities remain. > > For the past couple weeks, our dear little "bottle-baby" who lived in with > us for a month last January, has been getting out-and-out belligerent. He's > taken to butting, charging, acting pretty scary, despite his runty size. We > carry a squirt gun filled with a water/Tobasco mix when we go in to feed. > He's been squirted on the nose with that and backs off when he sees the gun. > If we don't have the gun, it's 50/50 whether he'll try to butt or be sweet. > One time, he first butted, then backed up to charge me. I grabbed a horn and > took him down and sat on him for a good 3 minutes. He seemed to remember > that lesson for about 2 days, then started in again. > > Other males are just beginning to display this behavior as well. We have 12 > of these young guys together, along with 2 older, well-behaved (so far) > rams. If the rebellion spreads, it'll be downright dangerous to go in their > pen to feed or do anything. Up until now, all the boys have been easy, > maneuverable, sweet, no problems. > > Any suggestions on how to quell this behavior before someone gets hurt (us) > or eaten (them)? > > Thanks, > Peg > > _______________________________________________ > This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list > Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info > _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
