His white coat is luxurious, he loves a good massage, he is starring in a blockbuster film with Sam Neill and Michael Caton, and he is accompanied everywhere he goes by a harem of ladies.

Locke is one ram living in luxury.

Actors, directors, camera crews, and animal wranglers have gathered in the Western Australian town of Mount Barker to film an Australian adaption of an award-winning Icelandic film.

The movie, Rams, follows the tale of two estranged brothers who live on neighbouring sheep farms.

After a rare disease threatens their flock, the siblings come together to save the day.

While New Zealand actor Sam Neill and The Castle legend Michael Caton would appear to be the film's biggest drawcards, that honour may actually belong to Locke — an impressive and gentle Dorset horn ram.

Animal wranglers David McSorley, Jessica Kimpton and Kirstin Feddersen with Charlie, Suzie, Locke and Tig the border collie. ( Supplied: Merlyn Moon )

Alongside his pack of faithful ewes — Susie, Charlie, and Mel — Locke is a favourite of both cast and crew, and has taken a liking to the green pastures of the Great Southern region.

He is provided with the very best of accommodation and treats and was flown to the set from New South Wales in his own custom-made travel crate.

Head trainer and owner of Kirsko Film Animals, Kirstin Feddersen, has spent months training Locke for his role in Rams, which resumed production this week.

Casting call

Rams director Jeremy Sims was hoping to find a WA-bred ram for the lead role in his film but time restrictions meant he had to look for an experienced candidate.

"We quickly realised that we had to have professional sheep," he said.

"It turns out they're probably the best paid actors on the whole film."

Mr Sims has been thoroughly impressed with the resulting cast provided by Ms Feddersen.

"Sam [Neill] is in a house with four sheep in the story," he said.

"So we needed to make sure everybody could co-exist in that place without getting too temperamental.

"The guys doing the training have done a brilliant job."

Sam Neill in action on the set of Rams. ( Supplied: Ian Brodie )

Ms Feddersen said, while WA had many handsome rams, Locke was already trained for film work, making him the perfect choice.

"He was a long way ahead of the locals and because we had such a short time for pre-production, they couldn't do it without him," she said.

"He had experienced fake smoke and wind machines and working at night under bright lights — all the hustle and bustle of a film set.

"This was lucky for us because we all get to work on this film because of him."

Australia's leading ram

Locke is two years old and was bred on a well-known stud in Coonabarabran in New South Wales.

Ms Feddersen found him when she was on the hunt for the perfect ram specimen to shoot the television series Lambs of God.

"I almost started from scratch with him because the ram that I was meant to take ended up injuring his leg," she said.

"Locke had been to one show so he had been handled and transported, but very minimally.

"As soon as I got him home, I started handling him and taking him for walks through the main street of Windsor to get him used to all the action, the people, the confined spaces and the traffic.

"Then we started working on behaviours such as marking for his film work."

Locke's magnificent horns were one of the reasons he was cast as the lead in Rams. ( Supplied: David Dare Parker )

Ms Feddersen said she immediately bonded with Locke due to his love of a good, deep massage.

"I was able to befriend him very quickly because I found his favourite spots for a scratch," she said.

"Once you teach them to mark, you can put the mark in a certain spot and he will go to that for a close-up shot.

"For the wide shots, he's also got a stay [cue] and he's also got very good recall. A lot of the shots on the Rams film are action shots where they need to run fast."

How to train your ram

With a CV packed full of big films such as Australia and Babe II, Ms Feddersen has trained many different animals for many different roles.

She said the secret to a successful partnership was positive motivation.

"You need to get to know that animal and get to know its favourite thing in life," she said.

"Whether that's food, a favourite spot for a massage, or maybe the animal is toy motivated and wants a ball or a game, rather than food.

"Locke is very proud of his role, he is very food motivated and happy to do all the gags he needs to learn for the film."

Oats and lamb pellets are not the only things that motivate Locke to follow film cues.

Like so many other famous Hollywood stars, Locke is totally smitten with his lead actress.

The picturesque town of Mount Barker in WA is located close to both the Stirling and Porongurup mountain ranges. ( Supplied: Ian Brodie )

"Luckily my hero ewe is very motivated to get to me at speed," Ms Feddersen said.

"She's normally the one first up to me, first through the gates too and Locke follows her at speed.

"Her name is Susie sheep and she is very much his favourite."

First-class air travel

While Locke and his sheep co-stars practised the journey to the airport many times in the lead up to their flight, the actual day of departure did not go so smoothly.

"We got stalked by a big, black semi-trailer on the way to the airport, so they [the sheep] were very much not chilled-out when they got [there]," Ms Feddersen said.

"Locke was foaming at the mouth and I was so worried, but we had a really good custom-made crate to put all the sheep on together so he had the comfort of being with his three girls.

"When we finally got out the other end, we opened the door to the crate and he stuck his head out and looked from side to side as if to say 'I'm actually quite comfortable in here'."

Australian icon Michael Caton plays one of the main characters in Rams. ( Supplied: Ian Brodie )

The four-legged film stars arrived in peak condition, gleaming white after an intense scrub.

"It is no mean feat to get a sheep into WA because you're very much weed-free over here," Ms Feddersen said.

"If they found one seed on Locke's coat they would have shorn him and sent him home.

"So yes, we had to wash him and we used Morning Fresh and a high-pressure warm water sprayer gun.

"You wouldn't believe it — he actually loved it.

"It takes a sheep two or three days to dry with the length of fleece that he has on him but he was white as snow."

Few months in paradise

While NSW farmers fight through the drought, the pasture surrounding the Porongorup mountain range was lush and green and a pleasant sight for the four lucky visitors when they arrived.

Like all important actors, Locke retires to his trailer during takes to munch on snacks and chat to 'the ladies'.

"We wouldn't do it without his trailer," Ms Feddersen said.

"He loves his trailer; it's full of pea hay and he relaxes in there in between shots, with his girls of course."

Sadly for Locke, his busy schedule meant he was unable to be present for the birth of his offspring back home.

"He is very much entire and it is a very important aspect of this film," Ms Feddersen said.

"He has just had a baby girl born back home last week which is half Suffolk, half Dorset horn."

Rams director Jeremy Sims on location with camera operator Steivan Hasler (foreground) and Steve Arnold. ( Supplied: Merlyn Moon )

Animals of all shapes and sizes

Kirsko Film Animals was established around 20 years ago and Ms Fedderson said she could train anything from an ant to an elephant.

"I love working with big cats, zebras, giraffes and all sorts of groovy animals," she said.

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Not only did Kirsko provide Locke and his ladies for the film, they also supplied Tig and Sage who both play the role of the hero dog.

Tig is owned by Jess Kimpton and since she was already a professional sheep trialling dog, teaching her film behaviours was an easy task.



"Tig is a dog that I bred and she's an eight-year-old pure border collie," Ms Kimpton said.

"She absolutely loves being a film star.

"She thinks it's the best game ever — she gets to work sheep, she gets treats, and she gets pats."

Ms Kimpton said she was especially proud to see Tig make it to the big screen.

"I am over the moon, especially since it's a dog that I've bred and trained myself," she said.

"It's an ongoing process to train them.

"Sheep dogs don't usually get to what we call 'trained' until they're about 18 months old and once they're about five, we call them really solid in their training.

"On set there is always something going on and something new to learn which keeps their brains active."

