MANAGING RAMS.

The Old Ram-Australia

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G'day folks,this is a post I put up on our FB page and I thought it was relevant for this group also......

The post is prompted by the injuries received by one of our members. It has been my experience that rams come in one of two types, those who dominate the farmer or those who accept that the farmer is the dominant one .IMO, a ram should never be raised as a “pet”, they have one function and that is to produce lambs.

I always draft out rams before handling ewes and lambs .In a confined situation if the ewes are paying more attention to you (the farmer) instinct will take over and he will endeavor to show his dominance over the flock. Over the years I have watched as rams sort out just who is the boss and will repeatedly charge each other until the weaker of the two retreats leaving the dominant one in charge.

Currently we have three groups of ewes and lambs and each group has three rams running with them and they tend to stay separate in a group of their own at this time .It is my intention to put all the rams in one group in the coming month as I bring in the ewes to be “cleaned up” and the lambs marked .In early Dec it is I who will determine which rams will mate each group of ewes, so the test of just who is the number one ram will be decided again.....T.O.R.

 
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