The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: pinkvisla1 on January 22, 2017, 04:53:45 pm
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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!
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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.
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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:
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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?
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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...
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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
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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.
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Please think before sending healthy sheep to slaughter!
But that's why I keep them! ???
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Please think before sending healthy sheep to slaughter!
But that's why I keep them! ???
:roflanim:
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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.
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All flippancy aside, can I be honest? I really don't know how I feel about this.
Yes, the rescue centre (http://farmanimalrescue.org.uk/) 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?
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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.....
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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.
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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.
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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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Well Pharnorth, I suppose it is each to their own. We all have different views about animals, how they should be kept, worth causes etc.
I find it very difficult to 'judge' others. Because, at the end of the day, who is to say that my view of what is 'worthy' is the correct one.
OP said they were her pets. Maybe some of us look at our sheep differently to her.
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So just to let you know I rescued Ronnie when he was a tiny lamb it was either me or death! I fed him through the night for weeks and he grew into a handsome chap! YES he had been castrated and I feel he deserved a chance and the rescue gave him this chance! I am not a farmer, I have land and these are my pets which I adore.
I spend hundreds of pounds every year caring for my sheep and make sure they are well look after and loved! I was just giving other people "Options & Alternatives" why should it be Mince or chops? I am not a vegetarian but I do NOT eat lamb!
Not all of us with farms/small holdings do this as a business! and to feed our families
I am just trying to help some of these poor creatures and give them a chance of life, is that so wrong?
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Hi PV1, please don't take offence at the posts, you opened up an interesting discussion, we all have different views, many on here choose a lifestyle that means either the animals go for meat and pay the bills, or we rear them with care (and often love), but when the time comes we don't mind them going in the freezer because they've had a good life and hopefully a quick end.
The question I think is should we pass on an animal that could be dangerous? Well, its quite possible he wont be aggressive with others, just too familiar with you. If the rescue centre decide they can't deal with him then they will deal with him the only way possible. you gave him a chance, its up to him whether he behaves himself.
I have to admit, my boy is on extended life at the moment, he is a beauty, but next head shake at me and he goes, (definitely before next autumn) and I will enjoy the ultimate revenge : ;)
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So just to let you know I rescued Ronnie when he was a tiny lamb it was either me or death! I fed him through the night for weeks and he grew into a handsome chap! YES he had been castrated and I feel he deserved a chance and the rescue gave him this chance! I am not a farmer, I have land and these are my pets which I adore.
I spend hundreds of pounds every year caring for my sheep and make sure they are well look after and loved! I was just giving other people "Options & Alternatives" why should it be Mince or chops? I am not a vegetarian but I do NOT eat lamb!
Not all of us with farms/small holdings do this as a business! and to feed our families
I am just trying to help some of these poor creatures and give them a chance of life, is that so wrong?
I do agree wholeheartedly with you there and I am sorry if my post seemed offensive to you, truly it was not mean't in that light. I wasn't aware that he was castrated. :) I am thankful that maybe there are some people out there who do these things, it is very much to their credit that these animals have a much better life than they would have had under different circumstances. As penninehillbilly has said we do all have different views on this subject in question, but I am glad to hear your views on it :)
All the best :thumbsup:
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I spend hundreds of pounds every year caring for my sheep and make sure they are well look after and loved!
Really.... "hundreds of pounds"?
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Love you lot on here! It's nice to read everyone's different views
Is hundreds of pounds not a lot? I've never really added it all up? Hay, straw, click, wormer, shearing , ewe nuts , I get them a small holder block ??
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Unless you need to, it's not a good idea to add it all up. We needed to, and now wish we hadn't!!
I don't think anybody is saying your sheep aren't well cared for, PV. Actually, if I were a sheep, I'd like to come and live with you please!
And thankyou for raising the subject. As I said above, adoption wouldn't be for me, as that goes against the philosophy of how we do things. However, if Ronnie came to you as a pet, I can totally understand that you feel differently to me, and will thus make different decisions.
I've (had to) become a bit harder hearted over the past few years, and though I have no problem with an animal being killed to fulfil its intended destiny as it were, I was still really upset to have to put a couple of ducks out of their prolapsed misery, because in my grand plan, that wasn't supposed to happen. So if in your grand plan, Ronnie was supposed to live out a long and happy life with you, I totally understand your decision to take him to a rescue centre, rather than the abbatoir.
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Good luck, Ronnie. :fc:
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I'm not judging anyone. Nor do I believe, say or imply my views are more worthy than anyone else's. Nope, each to their own. It's been an interesting thread. A pet by definition is a relationship based on emotional attachment. That does not preclude any of us having an emotional attachment with our livestock. I just happen to feel retirement homes for pets have more to do with the emotional needs of their owners than the welfare of the pet and don't support that extending to livestock without some comment. Hence the comment.
It is important contributors don't feel uncomfortable with the responses they get so I hope no one feels picked on from the views expressed, after all your emotional needs are important.
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Love you lot on here! It's nice to read everyone's different views
Is hundreds of pounds not a lot? I've never really added it all up? Hay, straw, click, wormer, shearing , ewe nuts , I get them a small holder block ??
You're right, it does add up without is realising it.
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I('m surprised at the level of dominant behaviour if he was castrated. Did anyone check that he didn't have a testicle tucked up inside?
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If castrated late ( ie once over six month) then the behaviour becomes a learned trait to a degree and not just a hormonal thing.
Castration offers a window to correct the relationship but only if you are siginifcantly aware of how to deal with any tentative return to bad ways.
It took a good six months for hormone levels to reduce and a further six months before going into the paddock was a pleasure and not a question of keeping a watchful eye for mine;