The Bag is EMPTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why oh why can't people just be honnest about what they have....

Where does telling stories get a person... SERIOUSLY!@!@ It is just a lost opportunity for business in the future....

We purchased some open ewes and a couple rams from the west a few months ago... we were really happy with the rams - extremely happy actually and have/had plans of buying again.

We wormed the rams yesterday and one of them has his testicles up inside of him... GAH!!!!!!!!!! For those that might not know this.... if the testicles aren't down in the bag where they belong they over heat and the result is lousy sperm quality which in turn results in singles or no lambs at all depending how high up they are and how warm they are being kept... *sigh*

This agitates me to no end... I told her after we made the deal if we were HAPPY we'd be back....I AM NOT HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm ticked off because now we're short one ram - the ewes will be ready in 4 days to be bred and now I'm grasping at straws to find another "fellow" willing to work out of season....

I know... I'm becoming a crazy sheep lady....

haha.. sorry don't mean to laugh, but all this sheep talk is greek to me.. will the testicle come down when he gets older or will it stay.. can't you breed him anyway and see what happens.. maybe he'll fool you and be really potent with only one testie.. ???

That is aweful....Did she not checked the nuts on the rams prior to shipping them...What is wrong with people....

If I had a well hung ram I would send him your way...But all I have on hand is Michael and he is neutered....(OMG he would kill me if he saw what I just typed...hahahahaha) :doglaugh.gif:

ohhhhhhhhhhhh yes he would.. lol :lol:

shoot.......that really sucks....what are you going to do with him now D...is he worthless.......can you send him back.......did you write or call the sellers and scream!!! doesnt help much for the breeding part now, hope you can find a substitute

Sorry D that sucks big time!!!!

I'll forgive you for laughing Wissy.... it is quite comical how much BAD LUCK we seem to have!!

He is pretty much worthless as I would never pass along a ram that I know is likely a dud to someone else. We'll ship him for meat and get a very very small fraction of our money back. At this point, in my opinion, there is no chance of them coming down he is 3 years old and this particular bred reaches sexual maturity at around 4-6 months... if his boys have been up there that long they're likely burnt right out.

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Did she not checked the nuts on the rams prior to shipping them...

That's what urks me the most - keep a ram for 3 years and not check him (or did she know what she doing?). We check ours, litterly everytime we go to bred, everytime we worm them, and when we shear. I know sounds compulsive but if one of them isn't working it results in a big loss. As they say, "the ram is half the flock."

I contacted the seller via email when we found the problem because I figured I'd be more civil than a phone call at that point but if I don't hear back from her today now that I've calmed down a bit I'll be calling her. If it was my ram, I'd be replacing him but not everyone practices the same business etiquette.

LOL just so everyone knows I'm not THAT crazy a good, registered ram can cost big money - I think the high selling ram this year in Canada brought somewhere around $6500 and the high selling ewe over $9000. We certainly didn't pay that for this guy but he was bought to bred for replacements so had big shoes to fill.

wow D, I didn't know they were that expensive and no wonder you are pissed..
Two things are for sure, either they knew and just wanted to get rid of him, or they are ignorant and just didn't know to check.. either way they are responsible to make it right with you.. good luck with that.. hopefully she will answer our email.

I find all this sheep stuff quite interesting. Here's my question ... when you buy a ram, is there some type of a "nut guarantee"? If they know that his boys aren't dropped where they should be, do they have to disclose that? Or is it buyer beware?

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"nut guarantee"?

:laughing.gif:

That really sucks if she did it on purpose.

I have another sheep question for you. Do eagles readily prey on the lambs? My neighbour has sheep and the little lambs are out in the pasture now day and night. The eagle sits on top of a tree and stares at them then swoops down to check them out. They're not very big but I figure if it was a problem the owner would be doing something to protect them??? If I see an eagle take off with one of those little fellas I'm gonna cry.

Dexy that is sooooo possible, a friend of mine years ago took me to his place and showed me an eagles nest and said the farms that had sheep with lambs they kept in especially when the baby eagles were born.. the eagles yes would come and steal a lamb no problems.. if hungry they'll have one.. if they think they can get it..
they take cats too..

oh ya and I am almost sure it was an eagle that tried to grab a friends jack russell..

I tend to think they checked him when he was young and they were "iffy" and he was nice so they said, "oh, they'll come down." and they never did come down but they forget that intial little conversation they had with themselves. She got back to me this morning and told me she "palpated" him before he left and they appeared to be there but admitted she didn't flip him like we have each time to check... *growls*

Hmmm... no nut guarantee per say but when something is bought for breeding purposes it is to be "breeding sound" even if one nut was down that'd likely do the trick. I bought them over the phone which is a common occurance with sheep - they're purebred so I know what they'll be and I knew their bloodlines. Given his testicles aren't dropped he should never have been for sale as a ram - he should have been shipped for meat long ago. If a purebred ram is for sale it is a given that both testicles are down and he is of superieur quality. There is a chance he'll still produce lambs at this stage but he won't have the numbers he should and if he isn't a dud yet he will be soon because the never ending heat will eventually put an end to his producing abilities.

I always chose to buy rams from sellers that have a good reputation (or so I thought). We got two rams from the west and I know if the other fellow had his nuts up inside him and I called those folks up I'd have a new ram here just as soon as they could get it on a truck - they are a huge farm and they back their product 100%. This lady is big too but apparently until I take the chance and test him (waste some money on my end) she won't do much. Breeding out of season is very expensive and when 99.9% of the time a ram with testicles up inside is disfunctional it isn't worth the risk just to prove to some yahoo that her ram is broken.

I see this situation equivalent to someone that would keep a cryptorchid stallion - bad bad idea IMO.

To be honest Dexy - I really don't know - I would think no because lambs get heavy pretty fast but if Wissy says an eagle tried to get a JR than a lamb certainly doesn't seem out of the question...

I'm thinking D that when he told me that story about the lambs.. maybe just after they are born.. maybe they smell the afterbirth and it attracts them..

Well D...I certainly wouuld be spreading the word in the SHEEP WORLD about this particular seller...........I'm sure that it would not be in her best interests to get some negative publicity............She is some lucky you are not closer and just deliver the damn guy to her door and demand your money back.......that is not Kosher..........gimme her phone number..........I'll call her for you.........let me at her!!!!!!!!!!! :affraid: :affraid:

hahah let me tell ya D.. when that Scottish lady gets angry it's down right scarey! :affraid:

She'll chase her down with a bucket and shedding blade :smallanimal-an . Hope she can run :Catani2.gif:

Well my mood about the rams has gone from bad to worse....

One who has screwed up testicles and the other won't bred out of season *sigh* if there is bad luck to be had...we'll have it.

We ended up pulling the other fellow this AM and putting in a youngin' with his group - how disappointing. He is a spectacular ram with just about everything going on but some of them just don't feel the urge to bred out of season and other feels the urge but their swimmers aren't active. This is something we are always watching for when we try a new ram and it is always such a disappointment when they show no interest. So I guess we're 0 for 2 from the west...

Well, that really sucks for you guys........but sure says something for Mother Nature.......boy oh boy........are the ewes in heat???/ and the boys just dont care......or are both sexes the same??/ on another subject.........did you check out the extreme sheep herding????// I really think you would enjoy it.

All the ewes are in heat - just one that decided he wants to listen to mother nature and not be drawn in by the ladies wiggling their tails...