Yesterday I noticed my ram wasn't acting quite like he usually does. He was just laying down a bit more and that concerned me.  When you have animals, you have to be really vigilant about noticing anything that's off or different than normal.  Especially with sheep...sheep tend to hide pain and illness really well.  My first thought was that he might have a high worm load, which is a common problem during the summer.  I caught him today to check him out, and saw the problem right away. 

My ram has scurs, and about a week ago I noticed he bumped his scur and caused it to bleed.  I wasn't worried about it, because he does that every now and then.  This time it got infected though, so that's why the poor guy wasn't feeling well. 

I'm glad I caught it pretty quickly, because flies in the summer can cause an even worse problem.  Hopefully he'll be right as rain in a few days. 

I'll be selling this guy in the fall after breeding season, because next year his daughter will be ready to breed and I'll need a different ram.  I'm kinda bummed, because he's a nice boy and I'd like to see how he matures.  He's a yearling now, so he still has lots of growing to do. 

If anyone is looking for a registered Southdown ram, let me know!