Don't talk on your cell phone while moving a sheep flock with a bad ram in it.
I was talking to my sister in CA and took the dogs in to move the sheep down into my field and while engrossed in the conversation I forgot to tell the dogs to hold, not fetch. All 3 went around and brought me the sheep (and goats). I realized what was happening and started to hightail it out of there and yelled at the dogs to LIE DOWN! I got completely around in a circle and still the flock was following me. That stupid ram saw his chance and left the flock to come after me. I moved away but realized I had nowhere to go fast enough so I stopped and braced myself for impact. Nothing happened and I'm not sure who saw what was going on and came to my rescue, but that ram left and I was able to get away and the flock went through the gate into the field. Whew! Thank you either Seth, Meg or Crue for pushing that ram back off me. After I started thinking again I realized I still had the phone on my ear. I apologized to my sister for all the vulgarities that must have come out of my mouth and through the phone to her ear. Damn that stupid ram! After breeding season I am again going to put him up for sale and if again nobody buys him I'm putting him in the freezer as dog food!
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
The Great Battle
or....I got rammed, again.
My ram has gotten quite mean in a past few months. He's over 1 year old now and has produced lambs. I've gotten hit by him a couple times now and I never go in without at least 2 dogs with me anymore. Yesterday I had Meg and Crue and was having Crue work the sheep around a bit. I thought (key word here) that the ram was behind and to my side with the other sheep and I had a tree beside me so my vision was blocked by that. Next thing I knew I got hit on the side and almost went down. Before I fully recovered my balance and had called for Meg, he hit me again. I think I may have broken a finger and I have a very large bruise on the side of my leg. Tweaked my back too and it is already so tweaked I really didn't need that. My own fault though. Meg now hates that ram. She tried to work him around and he kept going after her. Twice he rolled her and another time he got her down and tried to smash her into the ground. She never gave ground and she never gave up till he finally gave in to her and wouldn't fight anymore. Crue wanted to help but his lack of experience kept him from getting too close and he let Meg take care of matters. Meg has never been my best dog as she really prefers to work on her own and her ideas of what needs to be done don't always coincide with what I think needs to be done. When she was two she had a ewe with her older lamb go after her and chase her all around the pen. She has never worked the same since. Till last night. Don't know if its her age, she will be 11 yrs old at the end of this month, or she'd just had enough, but something changed in her and she was going to fight to the death with that ram. She only gripped if he went after her. If he submitted and took a few backwards steps she let him be. But she never backed down even one inch. I was very proud of her. I wish I could sell this ram, I've put him up for sale but haven't found a buyer yet. He produced two very nice lambs for me but I just don't need the liability of his attitude. When I was separating him from the other sheep last weekend, he didn't like the pressure I was putting him under and he went after my youngest ewe lamb butting her hard into the fence. I don't like him anymore. And he may not look very big in these pictures but he probably weighs about 180 lbs at least. He's Dorper/Katahdin X and very stout. Let me tell you, he packs a wallop!
My ram has gotten quite mean in a past few months. He's over 1 year old now and has produced lambs. I've gotten hit by him a couple times now and I never go in without at least 2 dogs with me anymore. Yesterday I had Meg and Crue and was having Crue work the sheep around a bit. I thought (key word here) that the ram was behind and to my side with the other sheep and I had a tree beside me so my vision was blocked by that. Next thing I knew I got hit on the side and almost went down. Before I fully recovered my balance and had called for Meg, he hit me again. I think I may have broken a finger and I have a very large bruise on the side of my leg. Tweaked my back too and it is already so tweaked I really didn't need that. My own fault though. Meg now hates that ram. She tried to work him around and he kept going after her. Twice he rolled her and another time he got her down and tried to smash her into the ground. She never gave ground and she never gave up till he finally gave in to her and wouldn't fight anymore. Crue wanted to help but his lack of experience kept him from getting too close and he let Meg take care of matters. Meg has never been my best dog as she really prefers to work on her own and her ideas of what needs to be done don't always coincide with what I think needs to be done. When she was two she had a ewe with her older lamb go after her and chase her all around the pen. She has never worked the same since. Till last night. Don't know if its her age, she will be 11 yrs old at the end of this month, or she'd just had enough, but something changed in her and she was going to fight to the death with that ram. She only gripped if he went after her. If he submitted and took a few backwards steps she let him be. But she never backed down even one inch. I was very proud of her. I wish I could sell this ram, I've put him up for sale but haven't found a buyer yet. He produced two very nice lambs for me but I just don't need the liability of his attitude. When I was separating him from the other sheep last weekend, he didn't like the pressure I was putting him under and he went after my youngest ewe lamb butting her hard into the fence. I don't like him anymore. And he may not look very big in these pictures but he probably weighs about 180 lbs at least. He's Dorper/Katahdin X and very stout. Let me tell you, he packs a wallop!
he finally conceded the point and we got him put away.
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