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Author Topic: Angry Ram  (Read 5802 times)

pinkvisla1

  • Joined Mar 2014
Angry Ram
« on: January 22, 2017, 04:53:45 pm »
There has been many posts on this subject but I just needed to tell my story and let others know! All is NOT lost there are other options!
So I bottled fed Ronnie the Ram and he lived in the field with my other ewes  to keep our grass down and just as pets.  After a while he became very aggressive towards us and protective over his ladies, he would try and ram us all the time, entering the field became a nightmare!  so to try and trim their hooves, feed them etc. became a total nightmare! We had become very fond of Ronnie but we could not find anyone that would have him!  Our options were running out and after reading many different posts on this website I thought my only answer was to have him taken away and killed!!
Just to let others know there are other options "Rescue"  I found a rescue centre who were willing to collect him and he is now spending the rest of his life with other rescue farm animals, they are called
 farmanimalrescue.org.uk they were amazing and I shall be donating to their amazing cause.

Please think before sending healthy sheep to slaughter!


Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2017, 05:24:45 pm »
Aggression can often be a problem with a bottle fed ram.  They grow up without the caution most lambs will have if raised by their dam and when they reach maturity will naturally seek to dominate their flock, which you are seen as a part of. 

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2017, 05:34:45 pm »
Life is too short to have dangerous animals on a farm or smallholding...and I wouldn't want to pass on an animal like that knowing it could seriously injure someone else  :innocent:

waterbuffalofarmer

  • Joined Apr 2014
  • Mid Wales
  • Owner of 61 Mediterranean water buffaloes
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2017, 05:35:26 pm »
I know that they do indeed do a fantastic job, but.... Wouldn't it be safer to have him killed instead of sending him elsewhere? I know he was indeed a healthy sheep, but wouldn't it be altogether dangerous letting someone else have him? We have had healthy animals before, which have turned crook, and we had to have them killed, as it wouldn't be good to let them go to someone else in case that happened and we would be liable. Do they know how to deal with a ram which was that aggressive?
the most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, loving concern.

TheSmilingSheep

  • Joined May 2013
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2017, 05:40:15 pm »
Well I read this as a 'good news' story.... and read it on the presumption that rescue centres do have much experience and undertake their own risk assessments when they take on animals... sometimes culling is absolutely the right, albeit bleakest, answer, but this thread was simply raising the possibility of unexpected alternatives...

kanisha

  • Joined Dec 2007
    • Spered Breizh Ouessants
    • Facebook
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2017, 05:45:37 pm »
Have had a 1 yr old bottle fed ram castrated  as he was dangerous and extremely agressive.  He is happily living well into his old age in the same place and is a very much loved part of the sheepy family  no need to send them to rescue if you really want to keep them. that said i have no issue with them going for slaughter either but it isn't necessarily the only answer neither is handing him on to someone else to deal with their agression
« Last Edit: January 22, 2017, 05:47:53 pm by kanisha »
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landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2017, 09:28:36 pm »
Have had a 1 yr old bottle fed ram castrated  as he was dangerous and extremely agressive.  He is happily living well into his old age in the same place and is a very much loved part of the sheepy family  no need to send them to rescue if you really want to keep them. that said i have no issue with them going for slaughter either but it isn't necessarily the only answer neither is handing him on to someone else to deal with their agression

I would agree entirely.

In 30 years of sheep keeping I have found the only safe way to keep a ram that goes for you is to castrate him. The animal is not angry, spiteful  or even protective. It is a hormonal thing and he can't help it, which is why castrating turns a dangerous animal into a friendly pet. A ram can kill. So if you don't want to have the animal slaughtered, it maybe isn't really fair to pass the problem onto someone else.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2017, 09:35:09 pm by landroverroy »
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Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2017, 10:04:04 pm »
Please think before sending healthy sheep to slaughter!


But that's why I keep them!  ???
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2017, 12:12:54 am »
Please think before sending healthy sheep to slaughter!


But that's why I keep them!  ???




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in the hills

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2017, 08:16:09 am »
Well, the rescue looks great. Have to admire people that give so much of themselves to these rescues. I guess that if she has had 800 farm animals there at some points,she will have a fair bit of knowledge about all sorts of issues.

Provided that you filled them in on the 'anger issues' that you were encountering with your ram I can't see that it's a problem.

Thank you for sharing.

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2017, 09:43:28 am »
All flippancy aside, can I be honest? I really don't know how I feel about this.

Yes, the rescue centre looks great, and I'm glad they're there. However, I personally would never send an animal there that I'd bred myself. Why?  Well if I've caused it to come into the world, the buck stops with me. If a tup turned aggressive that I wanted to keep, I'd have him castrated. Either that, or I'd turn him into chops, without any guilty feelings.

The thing is, there are lots of animals out there who end up in trouble through no fault of their own, nor their owners. So if I send one of my animals there, I'm effectively blocking that place for another animal who might need it more.

Do you see where I'm coming from?
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Sbom

  • Joined Jul 2012
  • Staffordshire
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #11 on: January 23, 2017, 09:45:24 am »
I would never bottle rear a ram and then keep him for breeding for exactly this reason.
Castrating would probably have reduced the aggression, eating him would have reduced it further. Hopefully no unwitting 'helper' at the rescue place gets hurt.....

in the hills

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #12 on: January 23, 2017, 09:53:15 am »
Womble, to be honest, I would be the same. If I'd wanted to keep him I'd have had him castrated and hoped that it would solve or at least ease the problem. Then, I'd probably have sent him on his way .... not wishing anyone else to have to deal with a potentially dangerous animal.

But, we don't know the OP circumstances or why that route wasn't taken. So....

If the rescue were told about his problems then they would presumably have felt that they were able to deal with them or they wouldn't have taken him.

pharnorth

  • Joined Nov 2013
  • Cambridgeshire
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #13 on: January 23, 2017, 02:02:32 pm »
Well I do know how I feel about this. It is each to their own and I fully appreciate for some people this option will make them feel better about themselves but it does nothing for me.  Pets maybe rescue centres make sense though I would still make the decision to euthanasia rather than 'retire' to someone else's care. Wildlife, especially those species under threat, yes absolutely rescue them and do the best we can for conservation. But rescue farm animals?  Some of the issues on the website make perfect sense but it is not high on the list of worthy causes I would chose to contribute to and as a safety net for those of us that do this for fun, no.

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Angry Ram
« Reply #14 on: January 23, 2017, 03:00:29 pm »
Well I do know how I feel about this. It is each to their own and I fully appreciate for some people this option will make them feel better about themselves but it does nothing for me.  Pets maybe rescue centres make sense though I would still make the decision to euthanasia rather than 'retire' to someone else's care. Wildlife, especially those species under threat, yes absolutely rescue them and do the best we can for conservation. But rescue farm animals?  Some of the issues on the website make perfect sense but it is not high on the list of worthy causes I would chose to contribute to and as a safety net for those of us that do this for fun, no.

Yep same here, I probably wouldn't have been able to put it as politely...

 

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