Growth of Ram Horns

Its this time of year that I am trying to sell lambs to people who want to breed Jacob sheep. Its easy to sell a ewe lamb with a guarantee of registration, but not always with a ram. The Jacob Breed Standard has some “rules” about how a ram’s horns should look—mainly having to do with the health of the ram (horns should not be growing into the face or jaw or interfere with grazing).

Rams’ horns grow quickly and people often can’t imagine how much they can change over a few months or a year. That is why rams can’t be registered with JSBA until they are at least six months old—in the hope that we will have a better idea of how the horns will turn out.

I have some current and early photos of three adult rams that are here now.

This is Axle at almost a month old, two years ago..

At two months old…

…and 4 months he showed great promise.

Axle was a star at last year’s Black Sheep Gathering. He was more of a gentleman than any other ram I can remember when we entered the Spinners Lead contest, both of us wearing scarves I spun and wove from his wool. He also won Champion Jacob ram. Notice the change in direction of his horns however.

Now at two years old, I’m a bit worried about the horn on his right because it’s getting close to his jaw.

Compare Axle’s horns to Sherlock’s horns. Sherlock is a lilac ram born in March, 2019. His horns are wide enough in this photo, but still not as wide as Axle’s at four months.

This is Sherlock in October at about seven months. He was a nice enough ram and I liked his wool so I kept him.

Sherlock is still doing OK, but we might start to have a problem with the horn on his left.

With four horns there can be multiple problems but fortunately this ram doesn’t have most of them This is Jasper at about six months and looking good, although it is easy to wonder where those lower horns are headed.

Here he is about a month ago at 13 months. So far so good, but it could be that the lower horns will need trimming.

It will be interesting to watch the 2020 ram lambs’ horns develop, but you can see why I don’t like to guarantee a registerable ram at the age those lambs are now.