Queer as flock ‘Rainbow wool’ from gay rams hits the catwalk

When a ram tips its head back, curls its upper lip and takes a deep breath - what’s known in animal husbandry as a “flehmen response” - it’s often a sign of arousal.

- Julia Carrie Wong

Sheep have a small sensory organ above the roof of the mouth, and the flehmen response helps to flood it with sex pheromones.

Usually, rams flehmen when they encounter ewes during the mating period, according to Michael Stiicke, a farmer with 30 years of experience raising sheep in Westphalia, Germany. But on Stiicke’s farm, the rams flehmen “all the time”.

Stiicke said: “They do this all the time, because they find each other attractive. They’re cuddling. They’re showing signs of affection. They’re jumping on each other. It’s undeniable that they’re definitely attracted to each other.”

He is the proud shepherd of the world’s first and possibly only flock of gay rams. Though researchers have found that up to 8% of male sheep are “male-oriented”, homosexuality is viewed dis­favourably by most farmers, who expect rams to breed. Rams who refuse are often slaughtered for meat, and it was during a discussion of this harsh reality with Stiicke’s friend and business partner Nadia Leytes that the idea for Rainbow Wool was born: “What can we do to not send all of them to the slaughterhouse?”

“My heart beats for the weak and oppressed in general,” Sticke said in an interview with Leytes, who translated. “I am gay myself and know the prejudices and obstacles that come with being a gay man, especially in the agricultural business.”