"It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." A.Holmes

Friday, January 2, 2009

Goth the Destroyer and a Spot of Ugliness

~Goth, in all his ramming ways is not happy.~~Look at what I had to do to keep him penned up and also keep my gate intact. I had to tie a wood pallet to the inside of my gate with the oh-so-lovely orange baling twine to keep Goth from ramming the gate to smithereens. This is so ugly, makes my eyes hurt from the ugliness.
~And looky here, more ugliness and destruction. Goth rammed these gates crooked. The tarps are to keep him from seeing the sheep on the other side, so he just rips holes through the tarps and rams two thicknesses of livestock panels til they are bent. See all the baling twine I have tied here there and everywhere to keep the fence up and Goth out of some of the other sheep pens.
~Close up of some of Goth's handiwork.Look at what he did to the gate, the 100% lifetime guaranteed, heavy duty, gate.
~Another portion of the fence, the fence posts barely standing. It is scary to watch the fence posts literally go up in the air and out of the 2 foot holes they were sunk in as Goth rams them. He rams the fence posts, trees, gates, whatever... with pretty much no noticeable effect on him. ~A cottonwood tree trunk with Goth's and his father Torques' horn work showing. The tree died. It was a HUGE tree. There is another dead cottonwood a few feet away. Can you see Goths' very young half-brother peeking from the left side of the trunk ? I think his horns will be bigger than Goth's. Anyway, when you see what a ram can easily do, you must realize they are not easy to keep, even very docile and hornless rams. ~We don't like the ugly fences. Goth was penned up for a day while we repaired the fences and moved him out of the ewe pen and put him back in the ram pen. We will wait until spring when we plan to make a much better and attractive fence that will hopefully be able to withstand his ram power.~"destroy: to bring to ruin or demolish in any way. To tear down: wrench apart: knock or pull to pieces: to take away completely the value or usefulness of :ruin, lay waste." Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary
I think Goth fits that description, don't you?
Blessings: my sheep, a husband who helps me keep sheep, a husband who helps me repair ram damage, my husband

9 comments:

LindaSue said...

Wow - that is a tremendous amount of damage from one ram. Interesting pictures, perhaps Goth has a hormonal imbalance (I'm laughing as I try to type that - since all breeding bucks, rams, stallions,bulls etc. have a hormonal imbalance - it is their job!) You are indeed blessed - just as I am with a good man who is able and willing to do the work it takes to keep livestock of any kind.

Anonymous said...

Makes my head hurt just seeing the destruction!!!

Southern Comfort said...

Goth is just doing what he was created to do and I can see the "awesome power" that he was given. I love your pictures and your descriptions and feel for you!I hope he can be contained because I look forward to seeing more pictures of him. I can't believe the damage to the tree! How did you come up with the names of your animals?

Anonymous said...

Oh you poor woman! I hope you can get a replacement for your 100% lifetime guaranteed fence. Perhaps you could convince the fence manufacturer to use you (or rather Goth) as a "test case". If it holds up to Goth, it would hold up to anything. His destructive forces are nothing short of amazing.

So, Goth has a son made in his image, eh? That's just toooo frightening. It looks like he has four horns also. I just cannot believe that!

I hope you are able to repair the fencing adequately to hold him in for the winter, and I look forward to seeing what you are able to do in the spring. I'm thinking cement blocks (just kidding, don't want to hurt the little guy!). Thank you for posting all of these pictures. I look forward to seeing more of the same!

Connie said...

Aw...poor Goth! He doesn't know his own strength. I have to tell you, Kathy, I would be afraid of Goth. I don't think I would have the courage like you do to take care of one who is so strong and potentially destructive. He certainly is one scary looking fellow with those horns of his.

Lanny said...

Too bad Goth can't have a go at the coyotes or that the coyotes don't look at the damage and run in fear.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

O MY! This is why I no longer have rams nor lambs but that's a sad side effect of not having rams. I had a horned Shetland ram who stood just about knee high who decided it was fun to run at me when I'd enter "his" pasture. The second time he ran at me, he was on someone's dinner plate within 48 hours.
Be careful...be very, very careful!

Anonymous said...

Goth needs PROZAC! He is dang angry...it's amazing how strong they are. You would not catch me with my back turned there...wow.

Country Girl said...

You mentioned husband 3 times in that blessings paragraph at the bottom. I like that.

But this Goth guy, he's a bugger!