TRAINING RAMS. 191 



Clogging is effected by fastening a billet of wood to one fore- 

 leg by a strap. It used to be quite customary to fasten two 

 rams together by a long yoke having bows like an ox yoke. 

 These and similar modes of confinement are injurious to the 

 sheep, and they are at* best insecure. 



TRAINING RAMS. Great pains should be taken to teach 

 stock rams the most perfect docility. They should be so 

 tame that their keeper can anywhere walk up and put his 

 hands on them. They should be taught to lead by the halter 

 and to stand confined by the halter as quietly as well broken 

 horses. But a rope should never be put around their heads, 

 as it rubs and tears off the wool. An iron ring about an inch 

 and a half in diameter, should be attached by an eye to a 

 small bolt passing through the thin part of the (left) horn, 

 confined on the other side by a nut. The halter should be a 

 strap of leather with an iron snap, so that it can be readily 

 fastened to or detached from the ring. On the hornless 

 English ram the strap must buckle around the neck. 



From being teazed or petted or from natural viciousness 

 of temper a ram sometimes acquires a habit of attacking 

 strangers who enter its enclosure and occasionally even 

 its keeper. Another will strike only when some other sheep 

 in the flock is caught. A cross ram that requires constant 

 watching, is not only an annoyance but a serious danger 

 for the full blow of one might inflict material injury and even 

 death. Unless of great value, such an animal should be 

 castrated at once. If kept, he should have a blind put on 

 him that is, his face should be covered and his line of 

 sight forward cut off by a flap of leather in front of his face, 

 secured to the horns. If very quarrelsome, he may be 

 entirely blinded by tying back the ends of the flap over his 

 eyes. 



A ram that is not seriously disposed to be vicious, is often 

 made so by the cowardice of those who are in the habit of 

 meeting him. If he finds his attendant is afraid of him, he 

 will soon exert his mastery to the utmost. It is not expedient 

 to court an issue, but as soon as it is discovered that a ram is 

 determined to test the question of mastery, his first motion 

 toward an attack should be followed by carrying the war 

 into Africa. He should be punished until he is taught the 

 complete and absolute superiority of his attendant.* 



* He should be sprung in upon with a good tough whip with two or three in the 

 left hand to supply the place of broken ones and such a storm of blows r ained on 



