The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Clare351 on September 28, 2020, 11:47:32 am
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Would like some advice please,I have a ewe cade lamb she has always been so affectionate but the last week she has started butting me she is big now and this morning she nearly broke my leg she ran up and butted really not sure what to do
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Get rid, she has no respect for you. Pet ram lambs are dangerous but if a ewe lamb has nearly broken your leg I’d get her gone too. Life too short.
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Yep, as twizzel says, she will not get any better. Is she in her own or with friends?
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Freezer!
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Ye she is with friends she has been lovely up to the last week don’t really want to get rid of her I have hand reared her
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Sadly she is butting you precicely because you have hand reared her! Hand reared lambs are notorious for becoming problematic. If your determined to keep her I would stop any fussing of her, chase her away if she aproaches you and hopefully she will become a bit less tame :/ The fact that she has already almost broken your leg would lead me to cull for safety reasons, you may not be so lucky next time!
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Your first thought should be " who might be next?". Do you want someone to be injured or worse? When you say she is with friends, do you mean your friends or she has other sheep friends? In a big flock she would be put in her place. Safety first, yours and others.
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You could turn her away in a big group of sheep for winter, check twice a day but no fussing, no feeding. But if she really did nearly break your leg then I’d seriously consider culling her sooner rather than later before she hurts someone. I have had pet lambs in the flock and whilst they are friendly they have never ever butted me. I’ve 1 left in the flock now but I couldn’t get near her in the field.
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I agree with bj_cardiff that you have some chance of solving the situation. It's tough but you have to let her discover she's a sheep and not a human, and that a sheep has her place which is not above you.
We had a lovely lamb, not bottle fed but she was special for another reason so we wanted her to be tame. We gave her treats and encouraged her to come to be petted. Big mistake (and I of all people should know better :-[ ). She started pushing and shoving and jumping up for treats - I'm not always so steady on my feet these days but we recognised the warning signs in time to prevent any accidents. Betsy was thereafter relegated to being a normal sheep in our flock. A couple of small raps on the nose, no treats and no tolerance of jumping up did the trick surprisingly easily.
Because your sheep has got to the point of being dangerous and actually hurting you, then your treatment of her needs to be abrupt and total. No feeling sorry for her and going half measures. Never put yourself in the position of being vulnerable. Don't go among your sheep for a while. Feed them over the fence and give no-one any treats. Is there someone else living with you who can deal with the flock for a while if they need any treatments?
Please don't hit her or anything like that (it's not her fault, she's just a sheep), just ignore her totally and don't give her any opportunity to butt you again. If you can do that without any relapses you will have a normal ewe who is just part of the sheep flock; if you don't do that then she must be slaughtered or euthenased. Harsh but realistic for your safety.
If you have cade lambs again, try to treat them as sheep and not as pets. Put them with the flock as soon as possible and call them to you for feeding once they recognise you and the bottle. Cade lambs can be really noisy but don't give in.
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She lives with 4 sheep,I have started Ignoring her and not giving her any attention and for the last day it does seem to have worked
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She lives with 4 sheep,I have started Ignoring her and not giving her any attention and for the last day it does seem to have worked
Great :trophy: Now just stick to your guns :)
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I must be lucky. I've reared many cades over the years and none have ever turned nasty. I reared a weaner once (called him Sausage) and used to take him for walks across the field 3 times a day and the tup, Triplet (also bottle reared) was not impressed. Triplet was a Dorset Down and lived with a pet wether (He was here until he was 10, wether that is, had to be shot, very lame with arthritis). Anyway, on one of our walks, Triplet came bounding down the field to charge this pig (funny sight in itself as he was as wide as he was tall) but Sausage saw him coming and backed up behind me!
Triplet couldn't stop in time, but did manage to vear off but not before he clipped my legs. I yelled and he scarpered! He was a good lad, only sold because I got down to daughters and granddaughters (via another tup).
Maybe it's the way I rear them and they all communicate between themselves "hurt mum and you're gone".
Mum in the past kept cattle that when they calved turned psycho (black limi x called Nutter comes to mind). "But she throws good calves" she would reply when I asked her why! I bought in a couple of British White show cattle, highly pedigree etc etc years ago with their calves as quiet as church mice. When they calved with me the following year, I was prepared to have them shot! They charged us in the shed, through girders! The vet found a buyer he knew who didn't mind this kind of behaviour and we broke even.
Nasty animals aren't worth it! In my mind, if something happens to me NOBODY will look after my animals , this year has proved that with having no help, so we keep calm, quiet, daft as brushes livestock only!
Going back to the cade, did you ever play with it by pushing it On its head? It's tempting, I've done it myself. Each of my cattle, scratch their ears, rub their forehead, they push slightly, you push slightly...... It's all good fun until they push harder!