Is it normal for male ram sheep to violently headbutt the walls?

soarwitheagles

True BYH Addict
Joined
Dec 24, 2015
Messages
698
Reaction score
792
Points
253
Location
Sacramento County
Thanks for the great advice everyone! We will keep a close eye on little limpy ewe!

A local rancher was trying to console me after missing the sheep deal. He said, "Look at it like this: maybe all the babies would have been half miniature sheep and half pygmy goat!" Needless to say, I didn't feel very consoled and had to buy another box of Kleenex's to wipe away all the crocodile tears...
 

Baymule

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 22, 2010
Messages
33,089
Reaction score
98,639
Points
873
Location
East Texas
Before we bought our sheep, I missed a deal of 15 Dorper ewes and a ram for $1500. The ad was up less than an hour. The people were moving and had to get rid of them.
 

FunInTheSun

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Jun 24, 2020
Messages
16
Reaction score
29
Points
51
Location
Brooks, Oregon
Hi!

We recently built a new sheep house. I attached plywood for the walls, with some 1.5" x 3" studs. Everything was fine for several weeks and then...

About one week ago, we began to be woken up nearly every night with super loud banging noises. Security video footage revealed the culprit...our American Blackbelly ram was violently smashing his head into the wall of the sheep pen.

After 2-3 days of this non-sense, he managed to smash the plywood right off the studs...man, not cool at all!

I have some questions...

1. Is this normal?
2. Why does he do it?
3. Should I expect this behavior to continue?

Last, I was planning on wrapping a 2"x6" planking all around the sheep pen at the ram's head's height.

Anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks,

Soar
I laughed right out loud, in a sad kind of way, when I read your posts! Our American Black Belly ram has DESTROYED our pole building and metal walk-through doors. He's knocked metal gates off their hinges and woken us and our neighbors up at all hours of the night. We installed electric fence lines, at head butting height and put t-posts in front of every gate so he can't get a running start at them - making it more than inconvenient for us to get equipment through the gates. Sigh. We had a ram who died of old age and never had a problem like this with him. The old guy was our first ram, so we weren't sure until we read your (and others') posts that the AB's behavior isn't something all rams do. I think that little AB is set for a craigslist.org post or the BBQ. I'm done! Thanks so much for sharing your post! It's good to know we're not alone in this!
 

Blue Sky

Herd Master
Joined
Jul 3, 2015
Messages
822
Reaction score
2,136
Points
313
Be careful around that ram. They charge people too. I stopped my battering ram by painting a big face on the wall he hit. 😡
 

FunInTheSun

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Jun 24, 2020
Messages
16
Reaction score
29
Points
51
Location
Brooks, Oregon
Be careful around that ram. They charge people too. I stopped my battering ram by painting a big face on the wall he hit. 😡
I don't go into the pasture with him! As hard as he smashes into the walls, etc., he would most certainly break bones if he decided to charge me. My husband takes a 6'x2"x2" with him when he goes in the pasture and just holds it in front of him. The little *%$& will stop just short of smashing the 2x2, but hubby has to be real careful of those horns. The unfortunate thing is the little guy makes good babies and hubby has gotten a bit attached to the little monster!
 

secuono

Herd Master
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
8,550
Reaction score
11,734
Points
623
Location
Virginia is for Pasture Farmers!
He sounds like a very sexually frustrated boy.
Rams actually breed each other, which seems to help mellow them out.
My rams have a loose cycle of light arguing amongst themselves, followed by several days of breeding each other. Then back to indifferent with each other.
 
Top