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- wayne clarke
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Even a castrated ram can be an aggressive beastie.
My sister, at one time, had a couple of goats (a nanny and a billy) and a couple of sheep (a ewe and the aforementioned ram). They were basically self propelled grass cutters but both males were aggressive, certainly towards each other, They would frequently line up on the flatest part of their field and, in utter silence, charge. There would be a tremendous "CLONK" and they would wander off in different directions, honour having been satisfied for the moment.
This one's looking a bit too interested for my peace of mind!
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A Border wallie's role is to act as a pack of wolves, trying to be in 6 places at once, to dominate and control the sheep. It looks very one-sided but isn't and if a ewe has strong feelings on the subject she will butt the dog and send it flying through the airI have a friend with a sheep farm. Having helped out shearing them you quickly lean a few lessons (I said shearing not sharing ) The first lession I learned is to grab a sheep from the front, grabbing the back end means being dragged across the field face down.
Sheep have a fair set of teeth, getting bitten is no fun.
Lastly and relevant sheep like rams headbutt, they are also heavy enough to knock a grown man down. While for the most part they'll avoid people, some are..... lets be generous and say mental!
Many years ago I was in the press tent at a county show, writing up my caption notes for the local papers (woe betide he who who gets the exhibitors' names wrong),I only personally know about one bull attack,
It happens, cows and ewes are brought into season by the presence of a bull or tup. It would take a lot of guts and skill for farmers to break up a fight between bulls, but that's what farmers do . . .Many years ago I was in the press tent at a county show, writing up my caption notes for the local papers (woe betide he who who gets the exhibitors' names wrong),
I looked up to find that the tent had emptied itself. About ten minutes later, back came the gang. It seems that some bulls waiting to enter the arena had started a fight, allegedly due to a cow, in a nearby pen, coming on heat. The only good news, from my point of view, was that none of the other photographers had got close enough to obtain an action shot...
As Garry says cows are mostly harmless. They are however very nosey. They'll come and stand by you to see what your doing, and sometimes stay there for ages. Dogs can spook them though.I go fishing and tend to be ok with sheep.
This week I had a sheep standing still looking at me. Kept putting its ears forward and then backwards. Thought it was going to charge at one point. Thankfully it walked past while I was fishing.
I never like cows and you wouldn't catch me in a field with a bull. Horses are ok but I don't like it when they trot behind you but I've learned that they're ok. They're as bad as cows.