# Ram lamb chewing on everything



## Fat Sheep Farm (Mar 2, 2014)

And I do mean on everything, including me. If we kneel down to feed our bottle baby, Valentino, the ram lamb, will try to climb on us and nibbles on our clothes and wants his chin, neck, and chest petted and scratched. I've never had a lamb behave this way. I'm trying to discourage him by pushing him down when he tries climbing on us because, while it's cute now when he's a month old, it isn't going to be cute when he's 8 months old.

So...my real question is, has anyone else experienced this with a month-old intact ram lamb before. The closest I've had has been a ewe lamb who was a bottle baby, who liked to stand on my foot while she ate. That was cute when she was tiny but not so cute now that she's 6 years old with lambs of her own. :yuck:  (still, she's my little girl so, yeah, it's going to continue because I can't say no to her.)


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

This doesn't answer your question directly, but I'll say it anyway. Bottle ram lambs on our farm become wethers, no exceptions.

I was offered a really nice registered quad ram lamb a few years ago but turned him down. He had been raised on a bottle because mom wasn't able to feed all four. Couldn't take a chance that he'd stay safe.

Good luck to you. I hope Valentino outgrows this behavior.

Peg


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

A lot of ram lambs tend to be very friendly, so his behavior is pretty normal.

Like Peg, I would highly recommend you wether him. 
A bottle fed Ram, as he matures, can be a very dangerous animal.


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## Fat Sheep Farm (Mar 2, 2014)

No no no, Val isn't the bottle lamb. He's a regular lamb feeding off his mom. When I'm feeding our bottle lamb, he wanders over and nibbles on us and sometimes tries to hop up on us, which I am discouraging. I'd rather not castrate him as he's an unusual color in a breed known for unusual colors and patterns and he will make a really good 4H, FFA, or breeding ram once he grows up.

The bottle baby is definitely going to be a wether before going to the freezer. I have a ram; don't need two.


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## Carol K (May 10, 2002)

Could he be lacking in salt or mineral? I just caught a lamb wool pulling, I had no idea but with some research found out what it was. 

Carol K


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## Fat Sheep Farm (Mar 2, 2014)

That's what I thought, too, but he has access to a mineral salt block and is eating a ration designed for lambs so I have no idea. Maybe he just likes nibbling on people. Either way, I've been working to discourage it. He's getting the idea that jumping up on people will get him shoved roughly to the ground and isn't doing it now.


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