[AT] OT-JD, now sheep

Mon Feb 20 19:29:10 PST 2006

I have to tell my sheep story. We always had cattle and knew nothing 
about sheep. An old gentleman that I was doing some work for while I was 
in high school decided he wanted to liquidate his herd of Ramboullet 
(sp?) sheep, 12 ewes and one ram. I was chasing after the FFA Lone Star 
Farmer    award so I thought another project might help. I purchased the 
whole package and they all had papers and were a great looking 
ready-made herd, especially the ram. He was magnificent and had 
impressive equipment in addition to those horns. Ramboulets rams have 
those beautiful curving 360deg  horns like a mountain goat.

He was tame and a pet; therein the problem, as has already been 
mentioned. I learned the hard way not to ever turn my back on him. You 
could walk up to him and pet him, but when you turned to walk away, he 
would nail you. Everything went well with me learning the hard way that 
sheep and cattle were different. A sheep will lay down and literally die 
of despair, rather than come in to the barn at night.

I had to disperse the herd when my mother spent the entire day "treed" 
by this mischievous ram in the barn protected only by our AC CA (tractor 
reference) which she couldn't start and drive off because the starter 
went bad (and my dad refused to pay to have it rebuilt, so it had to be 
hand cranked), while we were all in school. I got off the school bus 
that evening to find and extremely angry woman who had spent her entire 
day hiding behind the tractor under the supervision of this ornery ram.

No more sheep ever graced our place again,

Mike Atwell in Texas

Cecil Bearden wrote on 2/20/2006, 7:43 PM:

 > This was the problem with this Ram, he was afraid of being cornered by a
 > human.  When he was with the ewes he was no problem working in the
 > pens or
 > whatever.  But, if you got him by himself, he would go nuts.  I had
 > sorted
 > the little rams in the barn and had them in a pen at one end.  I was
 > tagging
 > them as per the Animal ID requirements in order to take them to the sale
 > Saturday afternoon.  This was about 9 am Sat morning.  I had most of the
 > little ones tagged by myself and Dad was in the truck warming up...
 > Actually that is the way I prefer things...
 > The ram was to be hauled also and he was in the barn not in the pen.  Dad
 > started pulling on the stiff barn door and I hollered 3 times to just
 > stay
 > out, but he paid no attention as usual.  Then he gets the door open and
 > cannot shut it.  I told him to just get out of the door and let the
 > ram out
 > because I knew he would go to the light of the open door.  At that
 > time he
 > was near me in the pen.  The ram started toward the door and Dad
 > decides to
 > back out of the door instead of just stepping aside.  He got hit right in
 > the left knee while backing out the door.  Knocked his shoe off too.
 >
 > Really what happened was he thought he would show that Ram who was
 > boss, and
 > when he saw 140 lbs of pure muscle coming at him he changed his mind.
 > It is
 > really hard for me to be very sympathetic because I told him several
 > times
 > to stay out.  This has happened before, I work with these animals all the
 > time and by myself and have only got minor scrapes and cuts from the
 > pens.
 > Dad thinks because they are small animals he can be the boss and push
 > them
 > around.  Dad is about 86 now, but I have never knew what I was doing
 > for the
 > last 53 years....
 >
 > It was like watching a wreck about to happen that you cannot do anything
 > about.  I knew when he opened that barn door that he was going to get
 > hurt,
 > but he would not listen to anything I said..   I really envy guys that
 > can
 > work with their fathers and have their respect.  Mine thinks I know
 > nothing..
 >
 > Oh well...  My sheep are not domestic sheep, they are Barbados.  They
 > are a
 > 3 way cross between Barbado sheep from Barbados, French Moufflin to
 > get the
 > big curled horns, and suffolk to calm them down enought they only jump as
 > high as a deer!!!!!!   They are very similar to deer in actions.  They
 > are
 > great mothers, and tough as a boot.  They can survive on nearly
 > nothing.  My
 > wheat pasture is literally gone due to the drought.  However, it is
 > supporting 95 head of these guys.   I only had one problem with the
 > ewe not
 > claiming her lambs and she did it for 2 lambings.   She will be going
 > to the
 > sale in about 2 months.  she is probably about 14 years old.
 >
 > The ram that hit Dad had a full curl of horns that were about 3 1/2
 > inches
 > diameter at the base with about a 1 ft diameter curl...  He was 140
 > lbs with
 > 40 being head and horns!!!   Maybe he will learn to stay clear from
 > now on.
 > I have no problems with the ewes, and only approach the rams from the
 > side.
 > Of course grabbing them with the shepherd crook slows them down pretty
 > good.
 >
 > So, I had to cancel going to a meeting in Wichita for my job so I
 > could stay
 > home to feed  the sheep and babysit my 86 year old child who cannot
 > walk.  I
 > would bve very surprised if he did not break it.  The knee is swollen
 > to 1
 > 1/2 times its size.  I can't get him to go to the Doctor, he knows
 > more than
 > the Dr.  I tried and my wife has tried, so If it hurts bad enough, he
 > will
 > go..
 >
 > If I sound irritated, I am.  I really needed to go to that meeting to
 > network with some folks so I could do some work after retirement....
 >
 > Sorry guys I just hadda vent.  Stupidity really p**ses me off...!
 >
 >
 > Cecil in OKla
 > ----- Original Message -----
 > From: "Indiana Robinson" <robinson at svs.net>
 > To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
 > <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
 > Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 8:49 AM
 > Subject: Re: [AT] OT-JD, now sheep
 >
 >
 > >
 > > On 20 Feb 2006 at 8:28, Herbert Metz wrote:
 > >
 > >> Cecil
 > >> Good to know that your fathers injuries were limited to a sore knee.
 > >> Do not know you opinion on sheep.   Although Dad was very tolerant
 > toward
 > >> animals, I do remember his infrequent comments that sheep had to be
 > the
 > >> dumbest of all animals.  "When I was knee high to a grasshopper" we
 > had
 > >> 50
 > >> to 75 sheep for several years.  Dad never regretted the decision of
 > >> discontinuing sheep ranching.   Dad had several good reasons, the
 > one I
 > >> remember was they were the only animal that would not always claim
 > their
 > >> newborn.
 > >> Maybe some list member is better informed of the above saying; hope
 > so,
 > >> because I do not know.
 > >> Herb
 > >
 > >
 > >
 > > Hi Herb:
 > >
 > > At the peak of our sheep raising days Diana and I were keeping 80 ewes.
 > > That was a huge flock for this part of the midwest, as far as I know
 > the
 > > largest
 > > in our county or nearby counties . While we generally enjoyed
 > raising them
 > > I
 > > used to often speak of having 80 sheep, all sharing one brain cell...
 > > :-)
 > >
 > > Of course only the rams were of any danger and as long as we didn't buy
 > > any rams that had been raised as pets they were no real problem. The
 > > secret is
 > > to keep the ram terrified of people.
 > >
 > >
 > >
 > > --
 > > "farmer"
 > >
 > > I try to take one day at a time but sometimes several days attack
 > > me at once.   :-)
 > >
 > >
 > > Francis Robinson
 > > Central Indiana, USA
 > > robinson at svs.net
 > >
 > >
 > > _______________________________________________
 > > AT mailing list
 > > Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
 > > http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
 >
 > _______________________________________________
 > AT mailing list
 > Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
 > http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
 >