Sunday, March 11, 2012

Good Grief

Boys are nothing but trouble.  Don't ever let anyone tell you differently.  As a mother of four boys, I ought to know.  And sheep boys are the worst kind of boys of all.

This is Fudge.



Fudge is a gorgeous, five year old ram that was born on Tongue River Farm.  That's important because they breed for milkiness.  Most Icelandic breeders I've contacted are breeding solely for fleece quality.  We want good, milky sheep since we're planning on using our sheep as dairy sheep.  So even though Fudge is a bad boy, we want to keep him for his milky genetics.

How is Fudge a bad boy?  Well, he threatens to ram our hands if we try to pet him.  He stomps his feet if we make eye contact too long.  He picks fights with our other ram, Gabriel.

But worst of all.  He rams inanimate objects.  Presumably, this is how Fudge has fun.

Here's a picture of what Fudge has done to our barn.


Thankfully, that's not a structural wall and we were planning on removing that stall completely anyway.  Here you can also see Gabriel and Fudge admiring the destruction.

Oh... fudge.

7 comments:

  1. Wow! My friend who has Shetland says she wants her Rams to not be so tame. She wants them to be stand offish and to not want to be touched. She says rams are dangerous and if you try to tame them they become even more unpredictable. Make sense to me.

    Can you line their area in the barn with cattle guards? They are very strong for such little guys. Beautiful too.

    I have boys, human, I love them dearly and wouldn't trade them for a girl. But they sure can be trouble :-)

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    1. I've always been especially wary of intact male animals, but Fudge is extreme! I'll have to look into what cattle guards cost in my area. He needs some special measures for sure.

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  2. I'm sorry that Fudge is giving you trouble. He was born here, or maybe on the way here?, bought his dam as a bred ewe in the Tongue River sale. His dam is an AI leader ewe, and Fudge was showing those traits. He was skittish here, we didn't handle him much, but he wasn't destructive. I think they can develop that attitude as they age, and also if they are moved from farm to farm. I really liked his dark moorit fleece. If you have any other RBR sheep, they are from our farm. Good luck, you will enjoy them. I'm sure Fudge will calm down this summer.

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    1. Thank you for the information! Susan Briggs is listed on his papers as his breeder so I assumed he was born on her farm. I'm very pleased to "meet" you. Most of the time Fudge is fine. I think he can smell the ewes from across the creek. They're due to start lambing in about 3 weeks and the hormonal changes may be setting him off. I'm glad to know he has some leadersheep genes. He's definitely smarter than the average sheep.

      I've just checked and I have 2 ewes that come from your farm as well. They BOTH had triplets last year! I hope they do that for me this year.

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    2. Forgot to say that the ewes' names are Estelle and Eva. And that's Eva in my blog header :)

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  3. Estelle & Evelyn should be really nice ewes for you. Charlotte, my favorite ewe is the mother and grandmother of them. Does Fudge have a companion? Sheep don't like to be alone.

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  4. Yes. Fudge bunks with our other ram, Gabriel. He's pictured with Fudge in the last photo above.

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