Sing this to the tune of the COPS theme song 'BAD BOYZ": Bad ram, bad ram, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when he comes for you?
This is whatcha do! You dispatch him and send his head off to the taxidermists' ! Above is a picture of me holding him without him trying to KILL me! We just got him back after 18 months with the taxidermist.Torque was pretty impressive looking, but by the age of 3 years he had taken out most of our fences and not satisfied with that he deliberately went after me. He tried to ram me through fences and gates. That is unacceptable you know. I have a lot of friends and family who visit and I may be stupid enough to risk myself, but not them! This ram had to go, but he is still here in many ways. After sending his head to the taxidermist we cooked the rest of him up for the dogs. They thought Torque was pretty tasty.
What? This seems insensitive ?
I spun up all of his fleece into yarn.
See, this is what ALL of Torques' fleece produced. Reduced into 2 ply yarn it does not seem all that much , does it?
I warped the loom and have just begun weaving a tablerunner of his wool, and I will call the table runner
-Torque on the Table. So we will have Torque on the table AND the wall!
Goth is Torques' son. His horns are more impressive. So far Goth has been a normal, typical ram. He does not seem to want to kill me just for passing by his pen. Yes, all rams are dangerous and worthy of being careful at all times when you are around them. Goth has shown no unusual interest in smashing me to smithereens though. He is welcome to all the alfalfa he can eat ( that's a LOT) and is a keeper.......I hope.....
But I think Goth needs to know, we have room on the wall for him too!
Sing this to the tune of the COPS theme song 'BAD BOYZ": Bad ram, bad ram, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when he comes for you?
This is whatcha do! You dispatch him and send his head off to the taxidermists' ! Above is a picture of me holding him without him trying to KILL me! We just got him back after 18 months with the taxidermist.Torque was pretty impressive looking, but by the age of 3 years he had taken out most of our fences and not satisfied with that he deliberately went after me. He tried to ram me through fences and gates. That is unacceptable you know. I have a lot of friends and family who visit and I may be stupid enough to risk myself, but not them! This ram had to go, but he is still here in many ways. After sending his head to the taxidermist we cooked the rest of him up for the dogs. They thought Torque was pretty tasty. What? This seems insensitive ?
I spun up all of his fleece into yarn.
See, this is what ALL of Torques' fleece produced. Reduced into 2 ply yarn it does not seem all that much , does it?
I warped the loom and have just begun weaving a tablerunner of his wool, and I will call the table runner -Torque on the Table. So we will have Torque on the table AND the wall!
Goth is Torques' son. His horns are more impressive. So far Goth has been a normal, typical ram. He does not seem to want to kill me just for passing by his pen. Yes, all rams are dangerous and worthy of being careful at all times when you are around them. Goth has shown no unusual interest in smashing me to smithereens though. He is welcome to all the alfalfa he can eat ( that's a LOT) and is a keeper.......I hope.....
But I think Goth needs to know, we have room on the wall for him too!
28 comments:
I know the table runner will be stunning Kathy. I can't wait to see the finished project. I would think the fact that you have room to "hang" another on the wall would settle Goth down a little!
We love our animals but we must not have to fear them. Our 5 year old blue heeler attacked and bit me last year and we had her put to sleep within hours. I kept telling my family that dog didn't like me and they thought it was my imagination. I can't explain it, but even though she lived with us, rode in the truck, slept by the bed, periodically she would growl when I'd walk by her at bedtime. It gives me the creeps now. I'm glad it wasn't worse.
My management problems were always handled the exact same way...immediate dispatch! The worst is a wayward ram can kill me; the best is, he can take out a knee.
You've spun beautiful yarn and it will make a beautiful runner.
Thank God you weren't hurt!
My apologies to Torque- but he looks fantastic on your wall, Kathy! LOL
I agree- I would much rather have him there than the way things were before. He made some stunning yarn, too!
Wisdom is knowing which fights to pick - obviously Torque lacked wisdom. He does make beautiful yard though and I love the open area around where his head is mounted - plenty of room for any other handsome troublemakers!
Is that a little wooly bear in your yarn basket? Do you make and sell them? You are a brave soul..I think they could feel my fear and would smaah me.
Thank you so much for my morning giggle! And Torque looks so majestic (and docile) hanging on the wall. Love that there's room left for Goth should he get out of line.
If Goth even thinks about acting up, just take him inside and show him Torque's head on the wall! Sounds like Torque lived life to the fullest, and his memory will always be with you. He left you some really pretty yarn too!
Rams sure can be mean at times since we went through something like that with a ram that we got from friends of ours that used to live a mile down the road from us but he ended up at the butcher's (he tried to hurt our vet and his ewe that was in with him dragged me in the house) but I am glad we don't raise sheep anymore right now though, one livestock breed was enough.
Insensitive? No. Torgue was growing dangerous, no doubt.
He sure did make some beautiful yarn! And he is beautiful on the wall as well.
Looks like you got all positive comments! No one here is going to call the ASPCA! Ha - I think it's hilarious! No, one cannot have dangerous animals around. Doesn't sound like he was doing anybody and good. And another ram with a good attitude can do the job just as good!
We had a ram once (merino) and he was just like Torque...so I understand why he had to go! Rams can be really dangerous, especially when they have big horns!
Torque looks great on the wall. Who did the taxidermy? They did a great job! Sheep can be tricky and especially the jacobs - the faces always end up looking funny. We are really hard on our Jacob rams - ANY disrespectful move is grounds for the butcher getting a call :)
Hi Kathy;
Aside from teaching me so much about the country life by your talented creative writing and pictures. You are one brave lady to hang around ANY ram.
I also love the touch of humor in most of your posts
I hope you never get tired of blogging, yours is truly entertaining
Audrey
I got butted by a baby goat one time and it didn't feel good.
The wool is beautiful!
The horns on Torque are(were) HUGE! I have never seen Jacob sheep until I began reading your blog. They are fascinating. I can see how your life would be in danger with those horns coming at you.
The chicken picking the name for your giveaway was hilarious, I had a good laugh. thanks.
That last line made me laugh out loud. He looks good on the wall..and lonely..so yeah, the others better be careful.
Mildred, thank-you. I will post a picture of the table runner when it is done.
Debbie,You know, it behooves us to pay attention to body language in animals as well as people.All the "experts" say if something doesn't seem right, then somehow we are picking up on that and something probably is NOT right. Pay attention, good thing you did.
Thistle Cove,yes! I have heard too many true stories of the harm and even death caused by rams whose owners trusted them. I NEVER trust a ram.
Farm Chick Paula, thank-you! He is so much more calm up there on the wall....and doesn't even need to be fed.
Linda Sue, I think I will mention that to Goth tomorrow when I feed Goth....
Woebegone, my friend Kathleen made the little bear out of some of my handspun wool. I am trying to talk her into making some more!
Pamela, yes!I think anyone contemplating keeping any ram, but especially a horned ram needs to remember those cute little boy lambs grow up fast! I hope Goth won't need to make use of that space, but time will tell.
Southern Comfort, besides the wool, meat, and his head, Torque sired some very nice lambs that thus far ( including Goth ) have not shown his extreme aggression! Thankfully!
Amy, that sounds like a very bad and dangerous situation. I am glad you are all well after that.
Mary, thank-you ! Torque had a wonderful fleece and I hope more of his children and grandchildren will too.
Sand Flat Farm, exactly! Another ram can do the job. Many very experienced sheep people don't keep rams as long as I do, a ram can 'perform' from 6 months on and to keep them for a long time usually will involve them getting more aggressive and dangerous.
Timi, do you have a ram to go with your beautiful ewe? I think Merinos have some of the finest wool in the world.....you really need to learn to spin your wool!
Kenleighacres, I will mention your kind remarks to the taxidermist! They were calling Torque 'the devil ' while he was in the shop! I am very grateful Torque passed on the many qualities I loved in him , but thus far, not his temperament!
Audrey, thanks! I am not so brave, I have pretty good fences and I don't enter a pen with the ram. I can care for him from outside of the pen, or run him into small enclosures if I need to work on his pen.Jim now, he takes a few too many risks with the ram and I keep telling him I don't want to collect on his life insurance just yet!
Karen, people are often surprised by how hard a sheep or goat can butt, you have to figure an animal that runs full force , head first into a tree for FUN has got to have a very hard head.
Leslie, thank-you! Life around here is very entertaining...and even in a flock of chickens or sheep, each animal has it's own quirks and habits that make it unique, and endear them to me.( but as I said before, when they get dangerous, they are dispatched! )
Noble Pig, you're right, Torque does look lonely there on the wall, hmm, I most definitely will mention this to Goth.
I see a ring of ram's heads on that wall Kathy.
I have often wondered what a ram head would look like on the wall. At our butcher's they (believe it or not) have a Jacob ram head on their wall because he put the wife in the hospital -- the butcher had never seen a ram like that... then we came along. :D Thank you for the post and glad you've kept yourself and your family safe. He was handsome no doubt, but Goth is very impressive!
PS: Mind if I tell my rams about your wall? ;) LOL
Lanny, I think you are so right! Just glad it takes 18 months or more to get the head back, that is how long it takes to save for the price of taxidermy, but is cheaper than repairing and re building fences for 18 months!
That is so cool that you saved his head.
The yarn is very pretty.
Mudranch, yes, tell your ram about my wall, and give him the name of a local taxidermy destination!
I hear so many stories about the serious injuries rams ( even without horns ) inflict on people and other animals. And all one has to do is see the damage our ram does to sturdy fences and huge tree trunks to realize the potential injury. So when it comes to rams, I repeat myself...DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER TRUST ANY RAM!
Y did you cut your sheep's head off??!??!?!?!!
Oh dear. Let this be a warning to Goth! I would be afraid to be around rams at all, but even more so since hearing your stories, Kathy.
He's not scary ... ! ??
L. Nicole, well, we did "dispatch" him before we cut his head off. Why ? Re-read the post and you will see why.
A.Joy, no, not now!
Daisy, every ram deserves very healthy respect and safety demands you keep a lot of space and a barrier between the ram and yourself!
I had to laugh at this post. The last ram that tried to kill me has his head on the roof of the barn waiting for bugs and sun to do their work. I boiled it for a couple of hours but still can't get the top horns off.
Post a Comment