Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Over weight Ram  (Read 5309 times)

Andy Hague

  • Joined Sep 2014
Over weight Ram
« on: February 28, 2015, 01:36:26 pm »
Hi all
I keep a very small number of sheep, 5 to be precise, a miniature southdown (babydoll) ewe and her lamb of last year, a miniature southdown ram and 2 babydoll/mule crosses, a ewe and a wether. The ram is really overweight. The others are probably a bit on the large side too as we have a generous amount of grass. I have just shut the ram in the large barn that we use for lambing and shelter. This is in the field adjacent to where the others are. I know that it's not right to keep sheep on their own, although he does seem perfectly content to be solitary and often moves away from the others anyway. My plan is to put him on a serious diet so that he is a bit more mobile. Am I doing the right thing. I could put the wether in with the ram, but he doesn't really need starving. The two ewes are (hopefully) pregnant so I think that they should be separated from the ram anyway. Should I stop all food to the ram, or feed him a little hay each day and how long is it OK to keep him in confinement. Thanks for reading.

Dogwalker

  • Joined Nov 2011
Re: Over weight Ram
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2015, 01:55:09 pm »
??'Stop all food'??

Surely you don't really mean that, do you?



MarvinH

  • Joined Oct 2011
  • England
Re: Over weight Ram
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2015, 02:16:12 pm »
I wouldnt keep him on his own. Feed as much hay as he will eat.
Sheep

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Over weight Ram
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2015, 03:39:42 pm »
I think it sounds as though he may need his hay rationed.  Maybe try him with 1lb or so divided between two feeds, night and morning.  That may still be too much - I don't know how big Babydolls are, I didn't even know we had any over here -  so you may have to cut back further.

Like all herbivores, they do need to keep eating to keep their guts active.  So twice a day feeds are a minimum.  If you can supply it in a way that takes him time to eat, or spread it over more, smaller feeds, so much the better.

Ideally you would not keep a sheep on his own, no.  But you say he is able to see and talk to his pals?  And isn't behaving as though distressed?

It's a bit like having a laminitic pony, I guess. 

Alternative tactics would be sending him to somewhere with little, poor grass.  But what to do for companionship... He isn't actually ill, so unlike a laminitic pony where getting better trumps company... :thinking:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

kelly58

  • Joined Mar 2013
  • Highlands, Scotland
  • Home is were my animals are.
Re: Over weight Ram
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2015, 04:20:54 pm »
Hi Andy, l have Babydolls, they are pretty 'rotund ' anyway. Their little short legs give that  impression , bit like me the OH says :roflanim: I would just feed him hay,  and as long as he can see the others like  Sally said he will be fine.
Were abouts are you? Curious because l had to travel the length  of the country to get my babies  :sheep:
Great little sheep, easy to manage, tame, friendly, hardy. Not like my Boreray !  They keep me on my toes.

Andy Hague

  • Joined Sep 2014
Re: Over weight Ram
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2015, 03:41:20 pm »
Hi Guys

Thanks for all the advice - I've been keeping in the shed for periods and then letting him out. We are in Devon Kelly and if you want anymore do get in touch. The only problem is that they aren't registered.

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Over weight Ram
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2015, 04:10:50 pm »
There are traditional Southdowns, Southdowns that have been bred to produce a larger framed, longer legged sheep that produces a more commercial type ram (often utilising imported NZ and French bloodlines) and ones that were undersize lambs and poor doers that should have ended up on the dinner table but have been sold as "Babydoll" Southdowns.  "Neither use nor blinkin' ornament," as my dear old Dad used to say.  If you want to know what size and shape a Southdown should be take a look at the images on the Southtdown Sheep Society website.

kelly58

  • Joined Mar 2013
  • Highlands, Scotland
  • Home is were my animals are.
Re: Over weight Ram
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2015, 04:54:14 pm »
Well l got mine from you MF, they are everything the 'tin ' says  :thumbsup:  :sheep:
Couldnt make that journey again, not fair on the sheep or us, given were we live.
Cant wait to put them to the tup this year, got him down there too, handsome chap !

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Over weight Ram
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2015, 07:29:55 pm »
I run traditional SD's - same size and shape as the old photographs of the big Southdown sheep sales on the South Downs at the beginning of the last century.  Don't care for breeding 'em larger as I don't think the carcase improves, only the legs get longer.  Got three different bloodlines, though.  One tends to have twin ewe lambs but a shorter productive life, one has a finer-boned appearance and less wool on the legs but a long productive life and one is woolliest of all and midway between the others in both longevity and prolificacy.  These are maternal traits and the ram doesn't seem to make the slightest difference.

Buffy the eggs layer

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: Over weight Ram
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2015, 07:04:32 am »
If your ram seems settled and content and not anxious, pacing around and bleating then he will probably tolerate confinement reasonably well. Ideally it would be good if he could at least see the others so letting him play out is helpful and spending a bit of time with him when you can. In a normal course of events it takes 6 weeks to drop a condition score and winter tends to be the time that this happens naturally. You could put the wether in a pen beside him. If you put them together he may bully the wether in competing for the available food.


Exercise is important for his physical and mental welbeing so the best way to help him loose weight would be to put him on a bare / poor stretch of ground where he can wander up and down all day looking for little bits to eat. Hay is important as a source of fibre and nutrition so give him the clean hay that your ewes dont eat and freshen theirs up every day. Exposed hay will lose some of its nutritional value so this will be less calorific. If he is halter trained you can take him for a walk but do make sure that his mineral and vitamin needs are met while reducing his calories. Give him plenty of fresh clean water too. If he has to metablise his fat reserves to maintain his energy the Ketones in his liver will make him feel rough so a slow, steady weight loss is much better than a starvation diet.


SDs have a curvy shape and a thick fleece so check his BCS and monitor his weight loss carefully.He may not be as fat as you think. Be patient this will take a good few weeks and depending where you are you may find the grass is coming through before you have got him where you want him.


Next year use the autumn and winter to get him into shape ready for the flush of grass in spring. Spring and summer are very difficult times of year to manage their weight. Work with nature it's much easier. Good luck!




Melmarsh

  • Joined May 2014
Re: Over weight Ram
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2015, 10:00:18 am »
I had a Southdown ram who also had a weight problem !! I used to get him in with his castrate "friend"  and put them on hay through the wettest part of the winter ( we're on clay) he lost 7lbs but soonreplaed it in the summer despite being contained behind electric fence  .At 8yrs old he was too rotund to do the deed even on the Southdown types that I had with not a hope of reaching  the other ewes. He is sadly no longer with us but got very bad tempered at the thought of no sex even in the winter !! So he had to go. Good luck with the weight loss programming , let us know if you get it too work !!!!!
I had problems with some commercial bred ewes in my distant pass, put on straw for a month on a bare area of poddock behind elec fence.   Weight loss   NIL  :thinking:

 

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