The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: funkyfish on March 14, 2012, 05:21:42 pm
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One of my very lovely ram lambs is a rig :0( breeder ringed his one ball and tail. He is more petite than the others and seems more laid back. He is just to keep for a lawn mower, but would like a ewe to breed from at some point so I'll have to keep them separate which is a pain... Don't really want to put him through an op to go fishing for it (although increased risk of testicular cancer from an internal one). May put him in the freezer instead? Or would it be ok to keep him? Argh!!
Any views or suggestions would be great!
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Freezer as soon as big enough, and keep him away from any girls from about 4 months old (depending on breed). No pont keeping one that may act like a proper male as a lawnmower, he will try and escape etc etc.
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If he was rung/ringed with a testicle still up, he 'should' be sterile as the sperm is too hot inside the body. I was reading an article on 'empty sack castrating'. However he will still have very ram like behaviour as he will still produce boy hormones ;D
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If he was rung/ringed with a testicle still up, he 'should' be sterile as the sperm is too hot inside the body. I was reading an article on 'empty sack castrating'. However he will still have very ram like behaviour as he will still produce boy hormones ;D
PLUS - May 2010, several farms hereabouts had unexpected lambs dropping left, right and centre.
We had had an unknown rig running with our keeping ewe lambs, a neighbour used 'teasers' (rigs) to get their girls cycling, and then left the teasers running with the ewes when the tups were removed.
December 15th 2009, a really cold snap began. Temperatures routinely -10 to -15, down to -21 briefly. Apparently, at those external temperatures, those internal testicles suddenly start working!
So my advice would be - eat him. Or if you really love him and can't bear to do that, then get his remaining tube tied or testicle removed.
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That's what I thought, thanks guys!