Thanks all, Sally - no not bucket training tups!
So, seller was very up front that he had generally neglected him, he was on the poorest grazing & he hadnt been as vigilant as he should have been on his worming. He’d got no ewes for him and he’d ended up being forgotten about. We saw a fair few of what the seller said were his offspring and they looked fine. Genetics I can’t change, but condition can be worked on in time.
So both boys are currently in quarantine, they’ve both been wormed & we will be monitoring that. Neither will leave until we are confident they aren’t bringing resistant worms or any other nasties onto our pastures.
Behaviour wise, our healthier tup is a ryeland and I suspect any breed compared to a ryeland is going to look more behaviourally challenging! Our headbanger is welsh mountain and we’ve put his behaviour mainly down to it being tupping season.
So far..... he’s been respectful of humans, he’s been easy enough to handle and very tolerant of being prodded & poked whilst we’ve been trying to decide what his issues are. He’s mostly giving the gates a good bashing - these gates are the only point where he can see other sheep from. Our neighbours run huge numbers of sheep all around us & it’s tupping season.... so we are working on the theory he’s responding to the fact it’s tupping season and wants to get to work. I should probably be grateful he’s keen!
I think he & I may have different priorities - I think he needs his condition building up & he wants to get out & meet the ladies. We are still very much running on starter numbers, we’ve only got 10 or so ewes for him, and there’s no hurry to get him working this year (he may not agree there!) & little danger of being overworked if he does get that far, but, assuming we move them on from quarantine, I’m happy to let the ryeland go in with his ewes, which would leave the welsh tup on his own - at this stage as you’ve all rightly picked up we have more concerns over what he might be carrying that we don’t want here.... & if he’s got something unpleasant the chances are that the ryeland does too.... however he has been much better cared for, if anything he’s carrying a little extra weight.
My issue is managing companionship, at this time we think we understand the reasons behind their differences in condition & behaviour Im hoping we are correct & we haven’t just landed ourselves with a plague ridden psychopath! If so, he won’t be here much longer & I’ll still need to solve my companion problem for the ryeland when he comes out
Thanks all - I think I’ll keep them well away from the alpacas for now - not worth the risk & look into wethers...
I always find my issue with starter numbers are that I end up buying companions for the companions!