Ram Thoughts

[WolfeMomma]

Ram behavior, is it genetic or do you think the way that you raised them dictates their behavior ( good or bad) or maybe both?
Even if your ram comes from friendly blood lines , does that mean he has a higher chance of behaving like a gentleman? Is there hope
for a ram who comes from lines where personality was not top priority? Thoughts?

 

[Baymule]

I think both. I’m no ram expert by any means. I haven’t raised any Rams from Ringo, but @Mike CHS did and said they had Ringo’s calm personality. They also had the benefit of Mike’s training, he is the “ram whisperer” extrodinaire.

That’s why I wanted Ringo, for his calm and friendly personality. I love that boy, he’s never going anywhere.

 

[WolfeMomma]

@Mike CHS do you breed specifically for personality ect?

 

[D and L Meadows]

I think it's mostly how they are raised. We found that bottle fed rams are more troublesome. We have a ram that was not bottle raised, perfect manners. His two ram lambs from this year were partly bottle raised, and they were perfect terrors. Lol Just teach the ram to respect your space and do not hand feed him, and he should be fine. And always respect the ram and never turn your back on a ram, no matter how friendly he is.
Of course, a ram in by his ewes usually is more aggressive, so we try to stay out of his way then, but other than that, we don't have much trouble with our rams from lines that didn't focus on personality.

 

[Sheepshape]

Definitely a mix of nature and nurture.

Some rams are born mean and they will prove to be positively dangerous if not castrated (and even then can be mean!). Others are friendly when small, but once the testosterone kicks in they live up to the title of 'ram' and want to do nothing other than head butt and show their superiority.

My current 3 rams are 2 huge adults who are both gentle and trustworthy and a ram lamb with an interesting history. The potentially most dangerous (due his having horns) ram, Dexter, is a huge mass of muscle and bone, but likes nothing more than a head or chest rub and is safe even when he is in with the girls. His friend, with whom he spends most of the year, is a taller, slimmer Blue Faced Leicester ram of huge proportions who is also safe to be around

My ram lamb, Mr Slowroast (now answers to Roaster), was one part of a twin birth last year, with his sister born dead. He developed severe hypothermia and pneumonia when turned out and spent almost 3 hours in the warming oven of my stove. His mother's milk failed due to severe mastitis, so he became a bottle lamb on rewarming. A couple of days after he turned the corner from pneumonia he developed joint ill. 10 days of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories saw him as good as new. Back out in the field and he developed a second bout of pneumonia. So he should be a complete wreck? On the contrary he is now very fit and well and a good example of his kind.....but we've been through too much together for him to go to market.
Now, I bring up Roaster to illustrate what often happens with ram lambs. He's always up for a complete chest hug and rub. A couple of days back when cleaning out around his feeder he came over for a chest rub. I was wearing one of those silly hats with the two long false plaits at the front, one of which was sort of dangling in his face. He suddenly starts little 'test butts' at the plait whilst I have my arms around him, thereby gently butting me. I stopped petting him immediately, said "No" and tapped him sharply on the nose. For a moment he looked like he was going to butt again, so I said "No" again. Since then, he's back to his usual self and I have avoided that hat whilst being in with him. Any butting, even of the very playful type that ram lambs do, must be immediately stopped. You have to establish that you are 'Head Ram' or 'The Boss', but you are also his friend. Rams form very strong friendships with their own kind and will do so with you, but you have to be the 'Head Honcho' not the 'butt of the jokes'.

Though a ram for breeding is, ideally, a good example of the breed, personality has to some first. The unaltered adult ram is a potentially very dangerous animal, especially if they have horns.

Bottle lambs can take liberties if they are allowed, and, due to their lack of fear of people can be even more dangerous than the not-so-tame.

 

[Beekissed]

I think both....a good ram from docile lines can be ruined by the imprinting of bottle feeding, just like a bull calf and a young cockerel can be. But, I think rams out of lines that are not bred specifically for temperament are less likely to turn out naturally docile and easy to work with.

Even nice rams are not given any slack here...any playful butting is dealt with as a serious offense and never to be repeated. I had a visiting mature ram once that liked to do a playful butting when one's back was turned....but I doubt he went home with the same attitude. That all was stopped on my place. Nice guy but still had the tendency to butt the humans when he came to me. The subsequent training didn't ruin his naturally moochy demeanor but did teach him proper manners around the shepherd.

 

[WolfeMomma]

How do you reinforce that you are boss? Sadly we played and loved on ours way to much, and now he is becoming a bit aggressive, to the point where I won't go into his pen anymore I am hoping this doesn't pass on to his ram lambs?

 

[Beekissed]

How do you reinforce that you are boss? Sadly we played and loved on ours way to much, and now he is becoming a bit aggressive, to the point where I won't go into his pen anymore I am hoping this doesn't pass on to his ram lambs?

It will if you don't learn from your mistakes. Some people say after the ram has entered this phase of his maturity and has already wrongly imprinted on humans, the only recourse is to kill him, but I'd say it's worth a session or two of training to see if you can change his mindset. Never hurts to try.

Was his sire aggressive? That's valuable to know before buying a ram lamb, as that can definitely be passed down if they are just naturally aggressive.

Reinforcing you are boss does not include hitting him in the head or face when he's butting....that's what he likes and he sees that as a further trigger to challenge you. You may need someone bigger/stronger than you if he's a big boy....or not, depending on how strong and determined you are and his relative size to you.


If a ram lamb it's relatively easy....you just tackle him at the first sign of ram behavior....backing up and lowering head, butting...even lightly, etc. Bend his head back to one side and flip him onto the ground and hold him down with all your wt. on him, even if you have to lay on him or straddle him....and keep him there for awhile until he stills and is no longer fighting and struggling against you. They say it helps to also yell loudly while doing this and terrify the crap and all out of him....I'm more of a silent killer, so I throw all my muscle and wt. into it and then growl into his ear, holding onto his throat tightly as he lays on the ground.

At that point he's getting a clear picture that we are a predator, not another sheep. When he's perfectly still and I feel like he's got the message I let him up. As he's getting up I'll grab his loin/flank area with hands formed into claws and goose him along as he runs off. Depending on the age of the ram or natural demeanor, you may have to repeat it. As I deal with Katahdin rams, they are naturally docile so it doesn't take much to get things in their heads. Funny thing is, they also don't seem to be too scared of me to approach me for feed or such after that, but they definitely never try the butting thing again. I've found Kat sheep are largely ruled by their guts.

You might try it and gauge the results.....one never knows until they try.

 

[secuono]

Both.
Bottle raised or dam raised but handled too much will create a potentially dangerous ram.
If he's got good genetics behind him, bought under a year, then ignoring him or strong corrections for the next year should fix his issue.
If he was dam raised and treated as a sheep, not a pet, and he's aggressive or does unfavorable things, then I'd rather cull and try anew. Could potentially teach him to be respectful, but I don't want a ton of ramlings that need teaching.
If you do decide to reteach, don't be a wimp and delicate about it. Body slam that sucker, flip him like a steer and hold him down. Chase him off seriously, as far away from the flock as your fencing allows, calmly walk away. You are to be respected 100%, like a king/queen.

 

[Beekissed]

Both.
Bottle raised or dam raised but handled too much will create a potentially dangerous ram.
If he's got good genetics behind him, bought under a year, then ignoring him or strong corrections for the next year should fix his issue.
If he was dam raised and treated as a sheep, not a pet, and he's aggressive or does unfavorable things, then I'd rather cull and try anew. Could potentially teach him to be respectful, but I don't want a ton of ramlings that need teaching.
If you do decide to reteach, don't be a wimp and delicate about it. Body slam that sucker, flip him like a steer and hold him down. Chase him off seriously, as far away from the flock as your fencing allows, calmly walk away. You are to be respected 100%, like a king/queen.

Amen and pass the biscuits!!!! This is called escalation and it's a valuable training tool. I let the freak out crazy take over when having to come down on a potentially dangerous behavior~for animals OR kids. It's also somewhat therapeutically cleansing to get that out of one's system......