I know I have told you about my top notch network of "sheep friends" who are always willing to share knowledge and experience. Well one of those friends emailed me yesterday and wanted me to share a bad shearing experience she had in hopes that someone reading my blog might avoid the same.
Rams can be aggressive SOE's (Sons Of Ewes), not only to people but to other rams. When introducing rams together, it is a good idea to pen them up in very tight confines so that they don't have enough room to back up and "ram" each other. Sometimes you get some very dominant boys who will fight to the death if given the opportunity.
In my last post, I mentioned that freshly shorn sheep who have spent their entire lives in the same group don't always recognize each other after being stripped down to their birthday suits. Remembering this fact when shearing a group of rams can help avoid disaster. Penning them up tight for a few days is a good idea.
My friend had some rams who had been getting along very well. She had them sheared and put them out in the same pen they had been in before. You can imagine her horror when she found one of her best boys dead shortly thereafter from fighting. Bad things will happen, but the more we know, the more disasters we can avoid.
Wayne and I are both going to get haircuts tomorrow morning - I sure hope we recognize each other...
"don't always recognize each other after being stripped down to their birthday suits"... again... I have no experience with sheep, but this sounds like a night at the bar.
ReplyDeletelol...
ReplyDeleteIf I were going to make a list of things I was thankful for, clothes would be near the top of the list. Not only do they keep us warm, but I KNOW they have kept me from going blind on more than one occasion.
lets see the new haircuts!
ReplyDeleteHope this doesn't post twice had some issues on the first try.
ReplyDeleteThe bucks are tough, in our case goats. Our herdsire is aggressvie to other bucks. He is sweet to us, a great looking herdsire and does his job well, this is why we still have him.
Knowing this, I rather stupidly tried a second time to keep another buck. Thinking a new fence would solve the problem, right. Keep them apart. I came home like your friend to find the second buck a live but beaten badly, head wounds and one horn broke off into the skull. I rushed him to the vet. Both horns had to be surgically removed.
Point, I don't know if sheep will fight through a fence but goats will! I could not believe the damage to the second buck done through a fence! Another hard learned lesson!
LOL yep hope you guys recognize each other lol.
Clothes are a good thing. I think mirrors are a good thing too and that too many people must not own one... Let's see the do's.
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