# Ram shield? Hope for an ornery ram?



## notasnowballs (Dec 28, 2010)

So somebody brought me this Jacob ram today that is a year old and they were in a real hurry to get rid of him because apparently he likes to headbutt. He demonstrated that at my husband as soon as we went into his pen. He also will be hell on fencing, and don't even go there about a lead rope. LOL That's why he was free. LOL 

So I read about this ram shield thing you can put on them that blocks their front vision so they don't want to butt things. I grabbed a plastic jug out in the garden and cut one out with my pocket knife and made the straps with baling twine. 

By golly, it works! This ram that was going bezerk is now quiet and kind of feeling his way around, sufficiently subdued. Not that I like him cowed, actually I kind of hate that he is humbled this way. But I also hate being rammed and knocked to the ground. And I want some babies for my ewes next year. So it is what it is for a while. 

So I have my field fencing up, then a line of electric wire on the inside, then he has this ram shield on for now. 

How long should I leave that thing on? I don't want to cause him vision damage or anything and I know it's got to freak him allll out not being able to function normally. He had to learn the hard way allll the way around the electric fence line. But I didn't want a dangerous animal busting out. 

It's so sad, I read that a lot of ornery rams just end up being "shooters", where someone just ships them around to place to place because they don't want to deal with the headbutting, and then eventually they end up on the dinner plate, or they go to a shooting range farm and are shot as "wild" game, when they really don't even know to run from a human. 

My hubby wants to shoot him, but maybe I have found a compromise. I am just worried about having that mask on him all the time, but I know it would be WWF wrestling to get it back on him again, too. 

Thoughts? Experiences?


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## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

I don't think that many end up being "wild game" . That is more of a specific market with certain breeds that have good horns. Most bad rams go to the sale barn, or to be processed, at least that I hear of. Any rank ram I get ends up at market, and I am sure to tell them he's nasty, so nobody else will end up having to deal with him. I suspect bad temperament can pass on to his lambs, so I would ship him and find a different one. A friend of mine lost a dog to a nasty ram. I almost did(or at least could have been injured), luckily the dog got out of the way in time, but the wood on the side of the barn was busted.


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## LibertyWool (Oct 23, 2008)

While temperament can an inheritable trait, I would more likely think this ram was over socialised when young. Possibly even a bottle ram. They can be very dangerous, and I don't expect that he will get better. 

A good way to have lambs and not have to keep a ram year round is to buy a ram lamb. At about 6 months, most can breed. And generally, wool breeds don't get that rammy until they are over a year old, so you can still butcher him after he as serviced your ewes. So if you could find a nice dual purpose ram lamb, like a Romney, that would work well.

I may be crazy, but that is what I'm going to do this year. BTW, I have three rams and am trying to sell one right now, so there is no way that I'm going to keep another ram around. But I have this really nice ram lamb that I would like to have a few lambs from. Since my butcher appointment at the start of October, I'll have to have some February lambs (that is why I'm crazy). If the lambs come out stellar, then I'll be bummed I ate him... LOL


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Be safe and send him to freezer camp. 
When I bred, I bred for gentle Rams, with no aggression towards people. It is do-able. 
Life is too short to get hurt by a mean Ram.


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## earthkitty (Mar 3, 2011)

I have one of those shields, bought it from Premier 1. Have yet to put it on my ram, but the little pamphlet says you can leave it on year round, except for breeding season, as long as you check it regularly for abrasion and chaffing. My ram isn't _mean_ really, he would just rather be with people, so has a tendency to ram other sheep. He is kept by himself at this point, and will only be with the rest of the flock at breeding.

If I had a ram that was actively, aggressively going after people, he would be dead.


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## notasnowballs (Dec 28, 2010)

I'm having flashbacks now of our horny billy goat (Nigerian) that we kept in a stall in the barn right next to the doe. He only got supervised nookie times because he had a horn problem as well. Can we say corn dog? That stupid buck spent alllll night long hammering the stall door with his head, trying to get out so he could make whoopee with that doe. Bam! Bam! Bam! All night long. Our neighbors hate us. LOL


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## Plowpoint (May 2, 2012)

I simply cannot afford to have a mean ram around.

In my experience, a mean ram takes out backs or knees and even with good insurance, a emergency room trip co-pay of $100 is worth almost as much as the ram is worth. Add in the cost of being out of work for a week or two and the decision to change out rams becomes fairly easy.

I feel it is far better to find a Ram that is docile and invest in that rather then have a mean one around. And to that end, I do not pass off a mean ram to another farm either. Part of farming is being ethical and setting some other farmer/homesteader up to getting potentially hurt is not what I am about. The buck stops here...pun intended. LOL


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