[Jacob-list] Medical / Social behavior ...

[Neal and Louise Grose]

"I also have a four horn ram that when I put 
all the boys together he is the peace maker.  If the fighting get too aggressive he will stand in the middle to prevent the fight and it works.  I do notice that the two horn rams are always ramming each other but the four horn ram never seems to get in the mix.  They don't bother with him at all. "

This reminds me of an article from several years ago in (I think) Science magazine that showed that sheep are genetically programmed to show submission to the guy with the biggest set of horns.  We have seen here that even a small 4 horned ram can exert dominance over larger 2 horn rams, at least until they start to fight. This is works as an evolutionary trait to reduce constant fighting inside social groups. 

Our first Jacob ram was small and weighed barely 80 pounds wringing wet. Even so, he almost completely dominated the large group of rams that he was housed with which included a 400 pound Cotswold. The exception was the Rambouillet ram with a 32 inch horn spread, with whom he was "best buddies".

Neal Grose
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: marguerite vanbeek 
  To: Jacobflock at aol.com ; oberlef at supernet.com ; jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 9:45 AM
  Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] Medical / Social behavior ...



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