[kate7590]

We've just bought home a lovely friendly wether and want to put him in with our ram who we have separated from his girlfriends today.

I know rams can fight and need keeping in very tight quarters for a while until they accept each other, but is this the rule with wethers too?
Of course with the wether there is no testosterone so would our ram see him as a threat?

Never done this before so all help/ advice very much appreciated

[nimbusllama]

I have not had a lot of experience of doing this, but a couple of years ago I took a large ram lamb away from his ewes and put him with about 3 wethers..... no problems as he saw them more as potential mates rather than rivals, so initially behaved as though they were new females.  Also earlier this year I collected a mature ram and put him with 2 wethers for about 3 months until lambing time, no problem there either.  So I think you will be OK, what does anyone else think?

[Fleecewife]

Apart from the wether being endlessly humped  there will be no problems.  Generally, where a younger animal is introduced to an older one there is no problem.  The younger will automatically be submissive.  I wouldn't think you'd need to do the penning them close either.

When we took our tups (4) out from the ewes, we popped them back together with a handful of tup lambs and wethers, without all the usual palaver of penning, and after greeting each other happily, the whole flock settled back down to graze.  The two oldest tups had a very desultory horn pushing session, but there was no animosity to it, and the field has been sweetness and light ever since.

[FiB]

In my ignorance I thought that they only fought when there was something to fight over so I put Monty (ram) in with my freezer boys (2 ram lambs) yesterday (in a field well away from ewes) they had a head to head moment (no butting) and then got on with eating. Phew. :-)

[Marches Farmer]

Depends on the temperament of the individuals.  Can you run them each side of a common fence for a few days so they get used to each other without any bother?

[kate7590]

This puts my mind at rest greatly! At the moment poor Darwin (ram) is in a holding pen type thing so we can catch him easily, but the wether is so friendly he comes running up so no problems with him. He is in with the 3 ewes next door to darwins field. So should I just loose darwin out into his whole field so they can walk the fence line together?

[nimbusllama]

Yes I would do that, as it sounds as though you can catch the wether easily when the time comes to transfer him into Darwin's field.  It will also stop Darwin being stressed by being alone.

[Foobar]

I'd just put them in together, otherwise the ram might get frustrated.  The wether will have a bit of running to do (which if your wether is anything like mine (i.e. a bit fat!) will probably do it some good!) running away from the rams advances.  The ram will give up trying to mount the wether ... eventually.
Distract them with some fresh hay or something .

[DartmoorLiz]

I've just taken Gordon the ram away from his girls and put him with 2 weathers and 2 ram lambs.  Gordon looked so lost until he found the bachelors that I think he was just grateful not to be alone.  I have not seen any fighting or mounting, I'm hoping Gordon shot all his bullets at the girls.

[Ladygrey]

I have always found it fine

The rams just have hump buddies and the wethers seem to give in and enjoy it after a while 

[nimbusllama]

Hi Kate... how is it going?  Any update?

[babysham]

I have one in with mine that managed to miss being taken in so was Fluke dosed so on withholding time and had no problems at all.

[kate7590]

Thanks so much to everybody who commented and put my mind at rest. Larry & Darwin were introduced on tuesday and they've been absolutely fine together. Little doris is missing Larry a bit but she's making friends with our 2 Jacob ewes (who incidentally are becoming much friendlier themselves!)

Thanks again guys, and hope you've all had a great Christmas