A second point is not to aggravate them by petting them on the face and horns. Don't use hornes as handles! Being handled with horns, often twisteing the animal, makes them angry. Seems that those are all "fighting signals" to sheep and goat rams.

If you MUST pet their heads, scratch their cheeks and under the jaw, they don't get angry being rubbed there. And in both species, pushing, shoving, head bashing, means you rank higher in the herd. Get to eat the best stuff or go first. Natural behavour, though hard on humans.

I didn't grab horns or pet. I went into a pasture to help some kids with a horse and the little buggers were sitting on the fence knowing this ram was not Mr Congeniality. I found this out later. Good thing he gave up after a few really hard wacks . I had a huge briuse on the front of my thigh down to the bone I'm sure. And those same little horrid kids laughed. Should have hit them while I was at it.If I had stopped to figure out how to grab and flip I'm sure I would have been toast. I hit square on the nose each time.

beegood, next time, wait until the last second and step aside. The ram doesn't change directions after he starts charging and he won't turn his head to get you.

He'll brush right past you like a bull past a matador. You can grab the wool to hold him and take your time figuring out how to get him flipped.

Don't ever turn your back on an adult ram. They don't have a very diverse computer program and "charge" is one of the few things that can go through their little pea brains so that's what they do in reaction to almost any situation.

When we had a ram, the adult males in our family had no problem with him. When he charged, we did grab his horn and hit him as hard as we could with an uppercut to the jaw. Never hit them on the top of the head--they are protected there--but they are very vulnerable to a hard whack under the jaw. My wife and daughters weren't able to pull it off, however, and were charged any time they went into the pen/pasture especially during lambing, so he ended up as Italian sausage in the freezer.

I once had a large female llama that decided to start charging me. I defended myself with anything I could grab. I won but the consequence was that by striking her I told her it was war and who it was with. I eventually had to get rid of her. All my aggressive behavior just reinforced her aggression, she never learned that I was the boss. We fought for over a year, she never backed down. She never got the message.

Llamas. Never again. I got one because they are supposed to protect sheep.

Well the darn thing was terrified of the dogs and tried to kill the lambs. Some flock guardian, huh?

It wasn't pleasant around people, either, very pushy.

To top it off, llama meat is absolutely nasty and nobody would eat it except the dogs. It was so miserable to butcher that my butcher told me "never again." (He said that about hair sheep, too.)

I've been charged by a ram from the back...he hit me in the lower back. It was my uncles so I did not retaliate against it. But My uncle said you need to beat it up a bit to keep him to respect you...
I know it sounds cruel but rams can really hurt or even kill a person.

So far I don't have to worry, I just have two female kids. Things may change when its time to breed them, artificial insemination?
Dan