Obnoxious Ram

So, here's what brings me to this forum...

 

May 2014:  My daughter's best friend (her horse) dies.  She is devastated, of course.  A girl I work with thought it might help if my daughter had something to take care of...something to take her mind off not caring for a horse.  So, she knew a lady that was bottle raising a lamb that had been kicked in the head by a calf.  The lamb was missing an eye and had some neurological damage (back legs didn't work the best - stiff and not so steady).  I've never had sheep, never even been exposed to sheep except at petting zoos but I'm pretty laid back so I was an idiot and said "Sure, we'll finish raising the lamb and when he's old enough he can just stick around as a pet."  Famous last words, right? 

 

August 2014:  My daughter is headed to college.  She'll come home every weekend but she won't be here daily.  I get Nick (the bottle lamb) a little friend, a bottle raised (but skittish) hair sheep (named Emily).  Anyway, Nick and Emily are two peas in a pod.  The girl that gave Nick to us told me that since he was bottle raised, he wouldn't get mean and that it was up to us to decide if we wanted to castrate him.  She said he wouldn't be interested in sex till the next year. Both of those were lies. 

 

March 2015:  Lie #1.  My haired sheep is acting weird (overly friendly) and she is swelling around the middle.  Uh-oh. Came home from work one day and there is a baby in the barn.  Not interested in sex, my butt! 

 

May 2015:  Lie #2.  Nick isn't so sweet anymore.  He charged my daughter and knocked her to the ground then repeatedly rammed her.  She got out of the field by keeping one of his ears twisted while walking (stumbling) to the gate.  She's a smart kid and stayed on the side with the missing eye. 

 

Fast forward to now:  We can't even go in the field with Nick.  He charges and rams.  He still likes you to pet him through the fence and feed him tidbits of whatever.  He's a different creature if you try to go in the field.  He bullies the females at feeding time. He's becoming dangerous.  He slammed me around a bit this weekend when I was trying to dump the trough to refill it (my goodness, his skull is hard!).  If a child or a senior went in there, he would really hurt them. I'm not sure why the gal that gave him to me told me he wouldn't be aggressive since he was bottle fed. Everything I've read in the past few days indicate otherwise.  Apparently, according to online stuff, he has no respect for us, thinks we are his own species and will treat us as such.  Which leaves me with a dilemma....

 

I planned on castrating him before his daughter reached sexual maturity so I wouldn't have inbred sheep (does it even matter with sheep?)  I divided the field so they couldn't do the deed.  She escaped her field and was in his field....I caught them in the act.  Nice, real nice.  I separated them again.  She's sneaky and I have no clue how she keeps getting in his field.  After a week of separating them each day and trying to avoid breaking any of my bones from being rammed, I figure it's too late to bother and just open the gate between fields.  Screw it.  I'm probably just destined to have a weird, genetically weak baby in the Spring. Whatever male babies arrive this Spring are getting banded as soon as their doodads drop!  I

 

Will castrating him at a year and a half old help?  Is it too late for that?  Do I buy one of those ram guards that block their front vision (the reviews on those were only great if the ram has horns...Nick does not)? 

 

You see, my mistake here was trying to keep him as a pet.  I've recently learned that livestock are not pets.  At least not 200 pound obnoxious livestock.  My laying hens....I still consider those pets.  I have decided they are my livestock speed.

 

Any advice is appreciated.  Has anyone here castrated a ram after it's sexually mature and has mated?  If so, did it change his behavior at all? 

 

Thanks!

Obnoxious Ram