Three Days of the Ram(dor)

Saturday

Breeding season is now over and if rearranging the flock is anything like separating them, we’re in for a long pain in the ass few hours. We started breeding Calvin and Nash with the ewes almost 5 weeks ago, on November 10th, with each ram set up in separate fields with their chosen ladies. Today their fun ends. Like the riddle about how to get a fox, a goose and a bag of beans across the river in a single boat, we need to move a lot of sheep around and we need to end up with two rams and two wethers in the east field and 15 ewes, three lambs and two wethers in the barn yard. One thing we know – food is a motivator, so we skip their breakfast in the field in order to use grain to coax them along.

First step, get Nash and his 6 ewes (it was supposed to be 7, but that’s another story) into the chute at the top of the west field. But before that can happen, we have to shovel out the gate in the barnyard and the gate at the top of the west field – about 10 inches of snow with a nice crust on top.  Morning workout.

Once the gates are cleared, the animals simply follow Peg into the west chute and I close the gate. Pretty easy.  Before we let them into the barnyard we need to corral Hillary, who has somehow gotten one of her rear legs out of the strap of her coat. I slowly march up to her at the top of the chute and wrap myself around her neck as she tries to run past. The deep snow slows her down – I could never do that on bare ground.  We then let them all into the barnyard.

Next, more shoveling – several gates on the eastern side need to be shoveled well enough to swing open. Once those gates are cleared it is again pretty easy to get the animals in the barn yard to follow Peg with some grain into the eastern chute, but we only want Nash and two wethers. Luck continues on our side as we are quickly able to get the three behind a gate on the east side and shoo Nash’s harem of ewes back into the main barn yard. Now to deal with Calvin’s side.

Again, more shoveling. The gate at the top of the east field, below the east chute, has somehow come off its hinges, but we still need to shovel it out so we can move it to the side, plus we need to make a path inside the chute for the animals to move because they hate walking in deep, crunchy snow.  Once all is cleared Calvin and his 9 charges (it was supposed to be 8) pretty easily march in line up into the chute.

Now we do some maneuvering/scaring of the ewes to get them to move up into the barnyard, leaving only Calvin, Nash, Levi and Schuyler in the chute.  It takes a few attempts but it really wasn’t all that difficult. Success! Four of the boys are on the east side of the barnyard, and the 22 girls and two other boys are on the west side.

But wait. After only a few minutes, Calvin and Nash are rushing at each other in the east chute. Literally ramming. They each back up so they are about five yards apart and then charge – head on – at one another, slamming their skulls. Pretty quickly, there Is a red splotch on the top of Calvin’s head. Moving as quickly as we can, we corral the two of them in the relatively small section of barnyard in front of the shed, and then into 4 x 9 foot section of the shed.

Calvin and Nash won’t have enough room to charge each other. I toss a half bale of hay on the floor, and we set up a water bucket on a hook just inside the door. They will stay inside overnight and hopefully calm down.

Sunday

Around 8:30am, we open the shed door and let Calvin and Nash out to be with Levi and Schuyler. As I return from the west field with the salt box, I hear Peg yelling.  Calvin and Nash are going at it again.

Calvin is maybe 40 pounds heavier than his son Nash, who is only a yearling and probably still growing. But Nash is no sissy, and he seems to be withstanding the head butts better than his dad. After one rush, Calvin struggles to get to his feet; it may have been the deep snow, but he’s not doing well. We notice a slit has developed in the skin on his head.

Now we’re not just idly standing there watching this battle. We jump in as quickly as we can and I wrestle Calvin back into the shed. Overnight, we discuss the situation. We can’t keep Calvin and Nash in the shed indefinitely, and we don’t want to go through the winter with 3 separate batches of sheep that will each need heated water, shoveled space, and fresh hay.  We’re in agreement if we can’t solve this, Nash will go to the butcher.

For now, we decide to separate Calvin and Nash, each with one wether.

Back in the house, Peg sent this email to Joe, a sheep expert with the University of Vermont Extension Service:

A Ram Question

Joe, we followed your advice and separated our ewes and had Calvin with one set and his son, Nash, with the other set.  Yesterday we concluded our breeding and put Calvin, Nash, and the two wethers together only to have Calvin and Nash truly go at it – head butting non stop. We put them together in the afternoon in a very small section of our shed where they wouldn’t have enough running room to do damage.  They seemed to quiet down and this morning at 9am we let them out of the shed only to have them resume their vicious head butting.  We’ve separated them – each with a wether.    Is this the new world order or is it your opinion this will calm down.  I can’t see us keeping two separate paddocks thru the winter for these two rams. Thoughts? In advance, Thanks! Peggy

Monday

Joe responded early in the morning:

Hi Peggy, When introducing new rams together, or even putting “familiar” rams back together after breeding, I keep them in a small pen (small enough that they can’t back up and hit each other) until they have settled down. Sometimes this takes a month or more. When they will both eat at the same time without vocalizations and “antics,” I give them a try in a bigger paddock. Sometimes they will commence to fighting (especially if there are ewes nearby), and then it’s back into the smaller pen for them. The joys of multiple-ram flocks! Good luck, Joe

I head off to work thinking about what we’re going to do next. Late morning, after delivering a half lamb’s worth of frozen meat to Eric in Lebanon (and picking up a check, thank you very much) I head back to the farm. Peg is on a conference call. I change into work clothes and head out to the barnyard. I carry 3 lengths of panels from the barnyard to the chute gate at the top of the driveway – one 8 foot length and two 6 footers. I get two lengths of rebar out of the shed and several bungee cords out of the garage.

Fortunately, the small hay feeder is opportunely placed near a corner of the chute. I shuffle it a few feet and set up the panels so that it is in the middle of a makeshift pen that measure 12 feet by 8 feet. Using a pail of grain, I lure both Calvin and Schuyler into the pen. I shoo Schuyler out.

Next I open up the gate that has been separating the two rams (and wethers) and Nash and Levi walk in. I set a pail of grain on the snow in the pen to keep Calvin occupied, and then lure Nash into the pen with another pail of grain. All in all, pretty easy.

I head back to the garage to get another heated water bucket, an extension cord, and some twine. I set up the bucket on the panel, plug it in and fill it up. That’s about the time Peg walks out. Needless to say, she is impressed.

As I’m heading down the driveway to go back to work, I see Calvin and Nash are still messing with each other. They try to charge, but they really don’t have enough space. They’re jostling each other and even licking each other – a behavior typically seen at the beginning of breeding with the ewes. They are angry AND confused at the same time. I call Peg on my mobile to advise her, and suggest she might want to check on them a couple times in the afternoon. 

Peg consults with the women who raise sheep in her spinning group.  All agree this is normal stuff.  Betty, a veteran shepherd, offers proven advice: put vanilla on their noses and asses.

“Should I dilute it first?”

“Nope, just throw a teaspoon or so at each end of the animal. Lasts awhile, too.”

We’re standing by with the vanilla.

Here is a short video of Calvin showing his damage:

When I come home in the dark at 5:15, I stop by the pen, roll down my window, and listen. Silence. Now we wait.

Todd