Ram Starting to Turn Rank

[Ozarks Tom]

Our 14 month old ram, Zorro, just yesterday started showing aggression.  After mistakenly treating our first ram like a pet (hand feeding/petting), this one we've totally ignored since birth.  Thought we'd done well, with a big beautiful animal to sire our flock, but yesterday he came at the grain bucket from behind, nearly knocking it from my hand.  When I turned and shouted at him (for the first time) he lowered his head and pawed the ground like he wanted to butt.  A couple more times like that and he's heading for freezer camp.

Anybody have a way to break him?  Oh, he's a Barbados Black Belly.

[Awnry Abe]

Painful creatures, those rams. Our herd sire was someone's state fair show project. He was calm as a cucumber until he realized there is more to life than the show circuit. Now I carry a stick around with me and give him a tap in the nose to keep him back. They are sneaky because they lay back and make you think they have lost interest. Then...wam.

By the way, why have so many ram vs. people encounter videos shown up in my inbox lately? I haven't asked for this trouble.

[Maura]

One of my ram lambs was aggressive the day his little hooves hit the ground. He went to freezer camp without siring. My other ram didn’t get aggressive until he was almost four. At that time I took to bringing the dog with me every day when I went to the pasture with hay and water. The dog is a border collie and the sheep respected him. I did end up putting San Diego in the freezer.

What I found was that he would be aggressive for about a minute, then calm down and go back to being himself. I just didn’t want to be around during his minute. Your ram is feeling like the king of the mountain. He is protecting his ladies and letting you know that he is dominant in the flock and will step up to his duty. Never bend over and never turn your back to him.

[shellymay]

Raising rams for breeders.......We have always had the best of luck while ram lambs are growing, manually flipping them
over onto their butts to give them shots, hoof trimmings, worming if needed and a general look over. If a person was to
make a catch pen and catch and flip these rams over on their butts (when younger do a couple of times a month) when older do
a few times a year, now I realize some of us humans are up in years and we can't just flip an adult ram on his butt so easley
 so if you can arrange outside help thats great but doing this while ram lambs are younger is a great tool for them to learn
respect for you at a very young age and they hate this position and will learn to stay away from you unless you are there
to feed them, another reason why a catch pen is nessasary because once they learn that you are in control and dominant it is
alot harder catching them for the hoof trimmings/shots ect  .....

At this time we have 8 breeding rams and I don't fear entering the pen with anyone of them even when they are in with the ewes! 
 I can also move them from pasture to pasture just by walking behind them as they will always walk away from me instead of turning
around and putting head down, I love a ram that when I walk towards him he walks the other way. I don't want him to run and fear
me by no means but walking away tells me he knows I am in charge....

Not going to say I NEVER had a ram that was aggressive did ONCE and I wouldn't enter a pen with him unless I had a tazer
with me, mine was a flash light that had the tazer included, they sell tazers in all shapes and forms  , really only had to use it
once and from then on if I needed this ram to move or go to another pasture or anything all I had to do was hit the tazer button
and it makes a zapping noise and if he heard that noise he would move....

This ram was only aggressive when in with the ewes, never any other time of year but it was unacceptable and we sold him off, we
purchased this ram who was raised like a pet as you said Tom and we was much older, never again will I go that route when
buying a ram in the future!

PS, all of my rams eat vinilla waffer cookies out of my hand as well

[bergere]

When I raised breeding stock... I culled heavily. All my Rams had to have good manners at all times to both people, his ewes and lambs, no matter the age and even during breeding time. ( though I never trust a male. )
Took years, but it was worth it.
Know other friends at the time, started doing the same thing, once they saw it could be done.

Life it too short for an aggressive Ram. Be careful!

Can be hard to find one to start out with, that someone has been breeding them to be mellow... but they are out there.

[Bear Foot Farm]

Rams can kill you

Don't turn your back on him again, and if you don't want to keep him for breeding, go ahead and invite him to dinner

This one was 250 lbs of bad attitude but he made lots of pretty babies
He's butting that 4 x 4 just because he enjoys it

[Ozarks Tom]

Zorro has gotten a conditional reprieve. I took Awnry Abe's advice, and popped him in the nose with a stick and since then he's taken to standing at the back and looking sideways at me. Also, we separated out all the ram lambs who were just over 4 months old. That may have helped too.