Feelin' a bit sheepish...

[Sheepshape]

Well, neither Dorpers nor Katahdins, but here's my rams......

This is Marshall....a shearling (17 month old) Blue Faced Leicester.

And

Dexter.....2 year old Beulah Speckled Face ram

Just to show his disposition to people.

 

[Baymule]

Well, neither Dorpers nor Katahdins, but here's my rams......


View attachment 65842

This is Marshall....a shearling (17 month old) Blue Faced Leicester.

And

View attachment 65843

Dexter.....2 year old Beulah Speckled Face ram

View attachment 65844

Just to show his disposition to people.

Your rams are young, how often do you change them?

 

[Sheepshape]

Your rams are young, how often do you change them?

I operate a 'closed flock' as much as is possible which reduces the risk of parasites and real nasties like Johne's, so I don't buy any ewes in. Therefore after a couple of years I can't use these same rams. However, they won't become meat for a while.....I do swops with neighbours to keep 'fresh blood' coming in. These boys are sweeties, but those I swop with often are nervous and a bit wild. Usually, though, they tame down fine after a few months with my 'laid back' girls.

 

[Beekissed]

Well...Jo got his first lesson in mankind's dominion over animals today. I think he's bored silly without his flock mates to butt heads with but he's been invading my personal space these past few days anyway, just mooching for food. This evening I was working in and out of his pen and he came up behind me and butted me....gently but it was a first attempt.

So, I did an immediate reaction but I didn't think he would remember that...more of a knee jerk response, which is always the worst kind. It's a type of engaging in the fight....like when people kick at a rooster that's attacking.

So, I pulled the section of CP in and fastened it, to make the pen much smaller and I proceeded to pressure him...around and around he went, getting more and more panicked as I turned with him. I didn't chase him but I kept my eye on his shoulder and would move a little in his direction if he stopped. Pretty soon he was trying to run through the fencing and that was his demise. His collar got caught or he would have breeched that panel....as soon as I had my hand on his jaw he stopped trying to run. I bent his head back towards his rear and leaned into his side until he went down.

There I held him by the jaw, with his head bent back, while I stood over him....time went by and he eased, heart rate slowed, eyes weren't rolling up. I didn't yell, hurt or otherwise unduly scare him, but he knew I was a predator and he'd been caught, was helpless and was remaining helpless until I chose to let him up. I let him up and he slowly got to his feet and moved away.

There we left it. When next I had to enter his pen, he started peeing and he gave me plenty of space...first time I'd seen him do that. I'll take that as an indication that he knows not to butt the humans again. We'll see if that lesson sticks.

I wish I had him a companion in there so he could joust around with his own kind. He's bored and alone, away from his flock for the first time and just doesn't know what to do. Next week the girls will be in the pen and he will go out on pasture and that will give him more options...he can explore, rub or butt against trees and structures, play with the dog if he chooses, etc.

 

[Baymule]

That made me smile. Jo, don't mess with The Boss!

 

[Beekissed]

Amen. Not a good thing to butt the hand that feeds you, so to speak. The food bringer should be held in high regard.

 

[Beekissed]

The sheeples are doing well, fat and sassy on fall graze and browse. They rotate out on pasture every 2 days in an alternating pattern so both groups can get good food besides hay. All poops are shiny pellets and that's a GOOD thing!

The nipple waterers seem to work for the ram but the girls can't seem to understand to use them properly, even when confined to them and with no other water source. Could be their noses are bigger than his and can't fit into that bowl. I'm thinking about getting bigger bowls for those units before spring. It's likely they will all water from the dog's heated bucket this year if I can't get this gravity fed nipple waterer off the ground properly. I think getting larger bowls will solve the issue, though, so it will still be a great delivery system for the rest of the seasons.

The ram is still pretty bold and friendly...don't really know how to curb that, though I don't encourage it. Every time he gets into my personal space I grab him or scratch his back around the loins, which usually gets him on the run. Prey animals usually don't like being touched or grabbed there and it's the go-go button....well....except for when Rose wants her back scratched and then she will lean into me and stand still for a good scratching.

Shine still won't let me anywhere NEAR her body except if she's busy eating some really good feed, which is rare. Still have to work on those stanchions so I can train them to them this winter.

 

[Beekissed]

A few pics of the gravity watering system I've got in place right now, utilizing a 4 gal. cooler and a 2 gal. cooler.

The larger cooler system has a small leak at the quick connect junction due to me having that whole hose under too much tension, putting tension on that junction.

I have a quick connect on the smaller cooler but no tension exists, so it doesn't leak at all.

The quick connect is so I can disconnect those quickly, without having to unscrew them, for cleaning or moving to a paddock system. I used pieces of an old garden hose we had in the farm junk pile, just bleached it out really well prior to use.

As you can see, the bowls are tiny....they looked bigger than that in the pics on Ebay. I'll be getting larger basins/bowls to go with these nipples so the girls can use it better.

I'll be doing a system like this for the dogs eventually as well. Cleaner water, less waste, and the ducks can't "fowl" it up....heh, heh!

 

[Baymule]

That is so smart! I use a hog nipple and a blue plastic barrel when I have pigs. It is awesome to fill the barrel and the pigs can't turn the water tub over, they just go to the nipple. Horses have a 300 gallon tank, sheep have 5 gallon buckets, chickens have gallon water jugs. That's a lot of watering!

Maybe a bigger bowl for your ewes will work. Where did you get them?

Has your ram had to have any more lessons on behavior?

 

[Beekissed]

That is so smart! I use a hog nipple and a blue plastic barrel when I have pigs. It is awesome to fill the barrel and the pigs can't turn the water tub over, they just go to the nipple. Horses have a 300 gallon tank, sheep have 5 gallon buckets, chickens have gallon water jugs. That's a lot of watering!

Maybe a bigger bowl for your ewes will work. Where did you get them?

Has your ram had to have any more lessons on behavior?

Got them off Ebay.

The ram is still a bit too friendly at times...he's always mugging me for food, even when I don't have any. I just grab him by the loins whenever he invades my personal space and that usually gets him on the run.

He came into the coop today when I had the door propped open for one reason or another...had to run him out of there with a pitchfork. Then he lingered around, gazing in at the chickens eating. That's all he thinks about right now is how much food he can get in his huge gut. He doesn't seem to be growing much in size, other than that huge belly.

Jeep, Lab/BC cross pup, seems to be laughing at him in this pic....

Today he came down where I was washing the car, stuck his nose in my bucket of sudsy water and took several big drinks of it. Doofus! Was snorting bubbles in between drinks. That should take care of his deworming needs for a bit....