My wonderful ram has just started getting a bit aggressive - especially if
you turn your back on him! I really want to keep him because he is wonderful
with the ewes and lambs (I have had some rams that would try to kill baby
lambs!), so, I just deal with it. He stays with the ewes and lambs all the
time,
so I make sure when I go in with them that I carry a short piece of 1/2" pvc
pipe with me. If he gets close I tap him on the nose and he goes away; usually
I just have to show it to him and he'll go away. If I have to do any catching
of ewes (which REALLY aggitates him!), I catch him first and put him out of
the catch pen. He stands there and bags on the fence pots and the gate, but
can't hurt anyone while we are catching / doctoring any of the ewes or lambs.
He has caught me off guard a couple of times when he first started this
behavior and I wasn't ready for it - amazingly, he doesn't do this with my
husband -
only me (so far!). Of course, I am usually the one that feeds them and is in
there with them so he is more used to me than him. So far, he hasn't hurt
anyone or even knocked me down (Which I have had done by another ram once when
he
hit me in the back of my knees as I was walking to the feeder with a bucket
of feed - I guess I wasn't moving fast enough for him!). I simply respect him
but make sure he knows that if he gets too close to me, he will be smacked on
the nose with the pipe.
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