Some months ago, I was browsing the web and came across something I thought many of you might find interesting and useful - Ram Shields.

A ram shield is really nothing more than either a sturdy piece of leather or a ridged cloth strapped to the face of either a polled or  horned ram. This nifty little attachment prevents a ram from seeing straight ahead when he lowers his head to butt or ram objects. Since he can’t see, he either forgets what he’s mad about (for those low I.Q. sheep) or he’s simply afraid of getting hurt by making poor contact. But even though the ram can’t see forward, the shield lets the ram easily see down and to the sides. Strangly, once he learns to work with it you might notice the ram lifting his head high in the air when you come into the pasture just so that he can see.

At this point some I hope some of you might already be saying to yourself, “Hey, I’m tired of that ram hitting me all the time” or “I’m tired of my gate looking like a pretzel.”  Well, if that’s the case then this might be just the gadget for you to try out.

In truth, I was somewhat skeptical of the shields at first, but since one of my rams has recently taken up the habit of attack my gates, barn, and wood-slat paddock area (You know, "just for fun"),  I decided to try and save some money and time since they’re cheaper than all the repairs I’ve had to do.

This last month (September '09), I’m finishing with breeding for very early spring lambs. Along with that my last batch of weaned lambs is now ready for the move back to the flock and it’s also time to pull the rams into their own pasture until it's time to breed again. This month is the best opportunity I have to try these out.

I ordered two shields (one for each large ram over ~10 months). Admittedly it was a bit tricky to attach these at first. The quick snap buckles were easy enough but a 2 year old ram can put up a pretty good fight, especially when you’re putting something over his face and horns. Each of my rams are different sizes and adjusting the straps on-the-fly was much harder than initially slipping it on (which also wasn’t too exciting).

I had two issues with the fitting, once I tightened the muzzle too tightly, choking the ram as if he had swallowed too much feed, and once the muzzle was too loose, allowing the ram to free himself twice by slipping it over his muzzle before I finally realized what the problem was. Keep these in mind, the first fitting might best be done by keeping the ram/s in a confined area for a few hours for observation so you can catch them quickly for any adjustment you might need to male.

After fitting both rams, I rounded up my newly weaned 5-6 mo. old ram lambs, the two lead rams, and threw them all together in the same pasture. As expected, the two rams saw each other and advanced, but then stopped short, nudged each other a bit like two boys punching each other in the arm, and the rest was simply too boring to watch. That was it. No excitement! No worries! No problems!

I found the shields with a simple internet search using “Ram Shields” as key words and browsing through the various sites. I found them imported from several countries as well as the U.S. made, and for a very broad price range from around $17 - $50 each (including shipping). I’d suggest you look for the less expensive shields made of leather and sturdy nylon quick-disconnect strap. If you find a manufacturer with large and small sizes, I found that the small size worked for standard American Blackbelly.

A full set of instructions should come with the shield, but please remember that you’ll need a shield for EACH ram in the same pasture. If you don’t do this then you’re putting one ram at a serious disadvantage and risk.