Aggressive Sheep and Goats! 3 Tips You Need to Know About!
Aggressive Sheep and Goats! 3 Tips You Need to Know About!
In this video, Tim talks about agression in sheep and goats and what you can do about it! Don't become part of the problem that leads to agression in sheep and goats! Learn how to protect yourself and your small farm!
#smallfarmprofit #linessafarms #agressivegoats #agressivesheep
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Thank you. Best info I've found on aggressive Rams. I never handled my young ram but his first season breeding and he became aggressive towards me. After the ewes finished cycling on heat, his aggression escalated to full on attack charging me on sight. He's in the freezer now. Life is so much less stressful without a Ram around for sure.'
Thanks for taking the time to leave us a message. We appreciate you watching our videos. It seems some males are just born aggressive and others are not so bad. For the vast majority, it seems keeping them off to themselves is usually the best answer. If they are unable to be nice, we agree with your solution. 😬
I was that guy in the mirror 🤦🏾♂️ Thank You for the Whisper Share 🫡
😂 No worries. 🫡
Great information! A little heartbreaking that someone can't raise them to be nice, but if that's the way it is, it's best for people to know, to give these animals the best life.
Yes. We do our best to eliminate excessively aggressive rams and bucks from our flock and do not sell aggressive stock to customers. With that being said, we have had customers call us a year or 2 after the sale and tell us the animal is so aggressive they can no longer handle it. We do our best to educate people about over handling males but some people have to learn the hard way. It is unfortunate and usually ends up with animals going to the sale barn for meat. We understand people want to establish a relationship with their livestock but the males are just off limits.
I have 2 rams one is friendly and one is aggressive...the aggressive one is really dangerous...I agree with you petting him was a mistake.. I suggest if you wanna deal with a mean aggressive ram, cover his eyes..I just do it when I need to give them shots...because for me I can never handle a ram.
It happens and is a very common mistake that lots of people make. Live and learn.
Great videos!! Thank you for all your hard work! Blessings from Nova Scotia
Thanks for watching. Stay warm up there. 😬
Totally. I noticed this between our last two rams. Great info
Thanks for watching, Joel. We appreciate you taking the time to leave us a message. Rams and bucks are all different and seem to have their own unique personalities. We have some adults who have never shown a bit of aggression and then others who do great and then one day it’s like a switch flips. Overall, I think most of ours are nice but show some aggression during breeding season. Thanks for watching and we look forward to hearing from you again in the future.
Great honest advice. Thanks for the information
Hi, SueAnn. We appreciate you watching and for taking the time to leave us a message. Hopefully you can find other videos helpful as well. 😬
I like the information you provide thanks its awesome I hope you get more views .
Thanks, Juan! We appreciate you watching our videos and for the kind words.
Learning the proper way and why to flip a goat or sheep is valuable. Wethered goats that are bottle fed make great pets. I raise pack goats that are wethers and with proper knowledge of handling, these animals will show you the love commitment and dedication of dogs.
Thanks for watching.
Good advice. I have St.Croix crossed with Marco Polo Argali’s and you do not want to be near the males when they get rowdy that’s for sure. Nothing like a 500lb charging ram to make your day exciting though.
Wow. Yeah, that doesn’t sound like something you want to mess with! Thanks for watching the video and thank you for taking the time to leave us a message. 👍🏻
Thank you😊
You are welcome. Thank you for taking the time to leave a kind comment.
I wish I had received more of this type of honest information when we first got our bottle ram lamb a year ago. I felt like I did my research, but honestly didn’t find much except that you shouldn’t turn your back on a ram. I didn’t know the right questions to ask I guess 🙁
It would seem that many people have an angle and videos are no exception. Many producers just want to make the sale and are not overly concerned with what happens with you or the animal down the road. It never ceases to amaze us how political the livestock business is. We actually get pressure from large producers to avoid making certain videos which may hurt their sales. We attempt to make the best educational videos we can. Our channel is actually a mistake. We started off making videos for our customers to help them better manage their sheep and goats and the whole thing grew on its own. We have no regrets but this was in no way planned. Thank you very much for watching our videos and if there is anything we can do to help you out, please don't hesitate to ask.
This is a real concern for me as I am very small . Inbreeding or having to buy a new Ram every year with a very small flock is a pain as well.. AI is a great option for me. Thanks for being one of the few that will tell you the truth on this subject !
Thanks, KT!
I carrued a 4-ft 2x4 and when our ram would charge, I would hold the board vertical to me and he would stop about a foot from me.
This is an effective method for sure. This is similar to the way tigers are trained (they use a long pole). With that being said, it’s an annoying way to run a farm. Hopefully we were able to help give you some good ideas!
Me and my wife took a walk in the coutryside here in England, Cumbria. Wifey had an accident and hurt her knee quite badly, so we had a fair way to hobble back to the car, which took us through two fields, both with public access, but privately owned. these two fields both had multiple intimidating and charging rams in them and there was no way back. While one ram was charging the others looked like they wanted to also, but I think the dominant charging ram was being left alone to play with his toys (me and the wife). I managed to fend this angry boy off, by bashing a stick on the ground and shouting at the top of my voice No!!! It was all I could think of to do, while we shuffles/hobbled/limped our way to the field stile and our escape, only to be faced with waiting rams in the next field, only these ones looked ready for us. We managed to keep ourselves alive and uninjured and made it to a road and safety. We are fairly experienced walkers, but have never been this scared or intimidated by aggressive livestock before. I do believe the land owner kept them to keep the public off his land, despite it being a legal right of way. I always walk with a bigger stick now.
We are glad you made it through, Barry. I think you are probably right. The land owner had to know the ram was aggressive and probably figured it was a good way to keep public off his property. Rams can be extremely aggressive and dangerous. Some of the worst rams are “lame”. This is a term we use here for an animal that attacks only when the subject does not expect it. Many rams are this way and will attempt to hit larger subjects when their backs are turned. I have personally seen small children knocked out of their shoes by a charging ram. I have only been hit once in my adult life and it was by a polled Dorset. He only took 3 steps and hit me. It was hard enough to knock me down. These animals command respect and it is of the utmost importance. You did a good thing with your quick thinking. A stick is often a great way to create distance between you and an aggressive buck or ram. Thank you very much for taking the time to share this experience. We appreciate you watching our channel. Best wishes to you and your family from ours here at Linessa Farms.
That's so true don't ever push on there heads.
Thanks for watching our channel! Unfortunately, every year we have customers who underestimate how mean rams and bucks can become from something as simple as petting their heads. As you know, it’s a sign of aggression and it sounds like you may have experienced it yourself!
At what age do the bucks usually start to yet aggressive? How do you know if it's a good one to purchase? Really appreciate your info!
Some bucks can show signs of agression very early in life. Head butting, pushing you, butting other kids, etc. Some males will start to show agression as they age and are over-handled. We have seen some males show signs of agression when being handled for long periods of time due to 4H and showing but revert back to being rather docile once the daily handling is over. The most agressive males get that way becuase they are treated as pets or bought as a pet to be handled daily. Although it isn't much fun, we encourage individuals to leave the males alone as much as possible. It's OK to talk to them and spend time around them, but playing with them or allowing bad behavior will generally come back to haunt you. If you go to a farm to purchase a goat and it is sitting there pounding on your leg, you should probably pick another goat. This is not normal behavior, even for a kid and will sometimes give you a lot of insight into the way they are being raised. This is normally a sign the baby has either been handled excessively or was a bottle baby. Not to say this cannot be overcome, but there are no gaurentees. We especially caution people with children. The males can have a more outgoing personality when they are young and will be more apt to play with children, which is enjoyable (we get this). Unfortunately, that animal is going to grow faster than the child and sooner or later, the child is going to get clobbered. In the best interest of the child and the goat, it's best to find a female if someone wants a pet. I hope this helps and makes sense. We appreciate you watching our videos and thank you for taking the time to leave a question and a kind comment.
@@LinessaFarms Wow. Thank you so much for the super thorough response. Consider me subscribed. I asked my questions because we traded bucks with another farm so we didn't have any inbreeding going on. The buck we had was two years old (no horns) and not aggressive at all. The buck we have now is almost 4 and super aggressive (with horns). We trimmed his hooves and as soon as he could, he tried to go after us. He does not like my husband at all. He's a huge Nubian buck and we have 5 small children. Of course the children are NEVER in his pen but I do worry about having him on the farm. My husband is wanting to cull him but I'm not sure. He is not handled, he is left to himself always. Only handled when it's breeding season or hoof trimming. I will definitely not even be petting him or anything from now on per your advice. Any thoughts? Cull him? He's a gorgeous buck that could improve our genetics greatly but of course safety is most important.
Do you have a video on trimming hooves of an intact male? I tried trimming my 2 year old kiko buck the other day, and he did fine with the front, but he wasn't letting me do the back. I didn't want it to turn into a battle, so i just let him be. I'm probably going to build a flip table so i can trim his and everyone's hooves in the future, but is there a better way to go about it?
With goats there really isn’t. I have a video where I trim a 300 pound ram bit sheep do better on their butts than goats. You may have to tie him up and get a helper or get a crush as you spoke of. No real good answer for you, unfortunately.
@@LinessaFarms Thanks for the feedback.
Is this true for wethers too? What would you recommend for hands off bottle baby wethers to keep them just for the season to grow them out?
We’ve seen lots of aggression issues over the years but MOST are intact males. Females and wethers tend to be pretty calm. On the occasion we will see wethers that are a little annoying about rubbing on people or biting. Females have been known to bite as well but again, it’s rare. We are ultimately concerned about things that can cause serious body harm and that is ramming. While there are exceptions to every rule, females make the best pets. The benefit of a wether is they are generally inexpensive because they lack the utility of females and intact males. I think if you have bottle baby wethers they will probably be slightly more aggressive than a traditional mom-fed baby but you should be ok.
@@LinessaFarms thanks!!!
I love ur videos
Thank you very much for watching our videos and for the kind words!
I just watched your blog on aggressive rams. I just had my first lambs…. Ram lambs and I am loving holding them like pets. But after watching your video I’m afraid I need to stop this behavior. I plan to keep the lambs for their wool and neuter them. They are only a month old. Will they still be aggressive when they grow up, as wethers? Also, I was told my ram, their father, was a sweetheart, and he loves getting attention. Now it seems I should stop that. I don’t get in the pen with him and if I need to direct him away, I use a squirt bottle that seems to do the trick, for now. What advice do you have for me?
Thank you for watching our videos and thank you for the question, Danette. Wethers tend to be less aggressive and will generally not cause the issues experienced with rams or bucks. Rams and bucks can be very deceptive in the fact they may be very docile and cooperative 99% of the time and then one day you go out and they ram or charge you. Most of the time when poor behavior is seen, it is because there is a female in heat and hormones are involved. There are instances where poor behavior happens for no good reason. We have a ram that averages one charge a year but when it happens, he can cause serious injury. In the end, you're rolling the dice every time you get in with a buck or a ram and you should practice your handling accordingly. They are dangerous and should be treated as such at all times. If you're in with a ram or buck, know where they are ALL THE TIME. Generally if you're going to get hit, they will wait until you aren't looking. Save your love for castrated males and females. Leave the intact males alone. Hope this helps!
I will rent my bucks for 200$ for a month the doe comes to my pen, registered Nubians, my goats are really healthy. I have 3 Nubian bucks 2 are registered and one is not. I have 2 wethers 2 does and 3 bucks.
Are you saying I shouldn't headbutt my goats? That was my first idea. Glad I didn't do that.
😂 This is always an option. If you choose to do this, please send a video to us so we can share it on our social media! Thanks for watching and for leaving a comment. 😬
for goat don't pet them on their heads, otherwise goat are rarely aggressive. in my 30 years in contact with goats only one had hit me . and that was totally on me. I was kid and play with him by bushing his head.
We agree. In our opinion, we feel rams are more prone to aggression than bucks. With this being said, the aggressive bucks we have come across more than made up for it. Many of the cases of aggression we have seen have stemmed from over handling. Thank you for watching our videos and thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!
what does intact mean?
Fertile, uncastrated males.
What a hard pill to swallow!!! Though I've read that in some books too. Could it be some breeds are worse than others or is it universally applicable? One of my local farms have Romney sheep. Though they're not the tamest sheep I've dealt with, they show their ram lambs all the time and are not in the habit of castrating. They seem to do alright with it, and I haven't heard any reports of aggression................ So it seems one would have to make QUICK decisions about males (after birth). I suppose the best rams to leave intact (and treat as such) would be those the mother does NOT reject since such lambs tend to be less tame anyways. And the bottle babies most likely should be made wethers. What really makes it challenging is that oftentimes the religious people insist on intact and non-docked rams (thus, they usually end up with hair sheep anyways.)
In general it seems the more a ram is handled, the more aggressive they become (generalization). With this being said, we have seen increased instances of intact show rams, bottle babies, “pets”, and rams which have been played with/roughed around with by people become extremely aggressive at times. I do think a good tempered ram can grow out of this to some degree. We personally have a southdown ram that was developing some aggression by the end of his second show season. After we stopped showing him and stopped handling him, his aggression quickly subsided. We have also seen rams that are just plain mean and are starting to ram people at 1 week of age. This kind of behavior almost never turns around. You are correct about certain religions wanting rams to be intact, specifically the Muslim populations for Halal meat. We are generally selling our lambs at an early enough age that this does not affect us. Unless being shown as a market wether, or specifically requested by a customer, we do not castrate any males. On a side note, we really like the Romney breed and they generally are pretty docile (with exceptions of course). We had a Romney ram for a number of years named Mitt and he is now on a friends farm. Romney are almost impervious to hoof rot and are a great sheep for people who live in muddy or wet areas. Soft footed sheep such as the Tunis benefit from one introduction of Romney genetics. 👍🏻
I like your info but i cant barely hear you sometimes
Most of the newer videos from about a year ago have a new wireless microphone system. It’s a work in progress. Thanks for watching our videos. 👍🏻
How old is to old on a buck to band
Rule of thumb on bucklings is to band at or around 8 weeks of age. With lambs we perform banding at 1 week of age. There are other methods of castration that can be considered as well. If you have a buckling past 8 weeks, we advise speaking with your veterinarian as surgical intervention may be required.
@@LinessaFarms thank you. Always very help full.
But I have a bottle baby boy goat that is still on bottle
Hello Lynne. Thanks for the comment and thanks for watching our videos. Bottle babies happen and that can not be avoided. We understand that. If you keep him intact and you continue to handle him long term, he will more than likely become aggressive. This is the norm to expect. I understand there are people out there that will say, “we had a male and he was nice”. Handling intact males and having them be friendly is an exception. Most of the time this is not the case. Even “friendly” males can get aggressive when females are in heat. Males are inherently dangerous and should be treated as such. Our advise would be to wean him (when applicable) and leave him alone. We hope this helps and good luck to you!
My third Buck was this majestic looking permanently angry dangerous fellow. People told me he is white therefore he must be possessed. Haha. The stories i have heard around my farm are worthy of many a horror movie scripts, I eventually got rid of him.
Naeem, thank you for watching our videos and thank you for taking the time to leave us a message. You are correct, some of our bucks and rams just seem to be born mean. We once had a little baby buck that was ramming us at only a few days of age. Although the way we handle these animals as producers does have an effect on how they end up, I feel that some cannot be helped! Best wishes to you and your family from here at Linessa Farms.