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

Monday, February 15, 2010

How To Shelter A Shelter From A Battering Ram

Goth, our big boy here, has destroyed many fences , gates, trees, and even another ram. We have tried to provide him with shelter to protect him from the rain but he has taken out solidly installed corner posts on buildings and the shelters over the years. He, his father and grandfathers killed the huge cottonwood trees in the ram pen by ramming them, for fun. See this post*Goth And The Spot of Ugliness. For a few years I have had this idea for a perfect shelter for rams, bulls and horses ( our sons' horses also contributed to taking out the corners of shelters) but not being any good at all in carpentry or building construction, and knowing my husband has many, many other more needful things to do in spite of my pleading, well, nagging~ my bright idea went undone. I have even spent many hours on-line looking for ready-made shelters of my simple design. I am sure there are many of you who read this ( or not) who will exclaim this is an old idea and YOU might have even incorporated it, but no one has ventured forth with this plan as of yet,( and I have asked many people on-line and in the sheep business around here)....so here is finally, the culmination of my idea and my husband and youngest son's handiwork. THANK-YOU! My husband and son have so many more important things to be doing, but our ram pen is right by the turn-around in our driveway. You see it right away and I don't like such destruction , ripped tarps, bashed in fences, demolished and dead trees to be the first thing so many people see.Hey, I don't like seeing it myself, but I do want to keep Goth. Above is the beginning of the structure. A structure supported by 3, THREE posts, all on the outside of the fence.See, if there are NO posts inside the fence, the ram cannot bash the post and cause the shelter to lean and eventually fall~ which has been the demise of all our previous sheep shelters. You can see on the other side of the fence, the huge wet hay and manure pile our youngest son cleaned out of the pen for me, with a bit of help from our oldest Grandson and my husband. This build-up is from Goth and the 4 ewes that spent the fall with him. I could not get into the pen to clean because I did not want Goth to be tempted to ram me. After our son helped my husband get off to a good start on the shelter my husband finished it, a bit at a time. He is a busy man and the weather has been bad. He had me be the watch-out just in case Goth took an interest in him and the bright green ladder.You can see part of Goth in the background of the picture above, and you can see the trunks of the very dead cottonwood trees killed by years of ramming.
My dear husband!
And here is my Valentine's present this year , the 3 post ram shelter that looks nice! I can also clean out the manure and wet hay stems with a 3 pronged forked hoe, from the outside of the fence~ yay! No risking life to have a clean ram pen. What is funny is that until my husband could get to finishing the roof, he had one strip of the corrugated metal roofing on the top and Goth would position himself perfectly under the strip to keep himself dry. He's not so dumb after all.
My husband presented me with a dozen red roses and card to melt my heart yesterday. Then he finished my ram shelter ~thank-you Jim, I love you!

17 comments:

Susie said...

That Goth is one strong boy! The shelter looks great!

Connie said...

Wow! Sure is a lot of work just to keep Goth contained. I'm glad you have the new shelter for him. Hope it works out well.

Debbie said...

What a good idea! Goth looks very smug there under the canopy. I can't get over the size of those horns. Very scary! Your 'handy guy' does a good job;)
Debbie

The Tiquehunters Wife said...

Goth is an amazing looking ram! I've said it before-there is nothing like him in this part of the country. My daughter and I spent some time going over your "Red Dog, Spotted Sheep" blog. I had to show it to her-I am so fascinated by your sheep-she was too!
Hope all works out so that both you and Goth are happy.
Looks like you had a special Valentines Day with your very special guy!
Loved the can/flower idea. I did something similar yesterday with my little Sunday School kids. I like how you used real plants. I used an assortment of fake flowers from the Dollar store. Going to use your idea for Mother's Day.
Enjoyed your post!
Have a wonderful day, Kathy!
With Love from the Cabin,
Claudia O.

LindaSue said...

Goth - a truly intimidating being - glad you have a shelter more aesthetically pleasing and more useful for you. Of course your sweet Jim reminded you - you are his valentine!

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Totally wonderful V-day gift; you GO Jim! The gifts that are useful are the absolutely best, to my way of thinking.

Kathy - you won one of my OWOH gifts. Visit and let me know which one you want - mini-art quilt hanging or pair or earrings.

xoxo
Sandra

Julie Harward said...

You are such a good care taker of these beasts...their horns would scare me! And why does it take a man so long to finally listen to a woman's good ideas?! Way to go and it looks great! Come say hi ;D

Anonymous said...

That is a great shelter for Goth!
Hope it works out just fine for everyone and I'm happy you'll be safer to clean.

A. Joy said...

That REALLY looks nice! Good thinking! Great job!

Anonymous said...

What a lucky lady and what a great idea! Sounds like you had a wonderful Valentines Day!

Dolores said...

Kathy, thank you for stopping by my blog...It's always fun to meet new friends.

Your blog is so interesting! You have a beautiful family.
Have a good week!
Dolores

noble pig said...

How wonderful, no more terrified lamb clearings!!

Mary said...

The pen is functional, attractive, and Goth appears to like it as well. A red-roofed shelter from a loved one, for a girl that loves her animals, was a perfect gift.

The bucks have ripped pieces of metal siding from the back of the barn. The did not remove entire sheets. I want to fix it but am stymied as of how...it will happen. They sure can destruct.

Paula said...

I'm beginning to re-think keeping our ram lamb Rowdy around for very long after reading this post, Kathy!!
Your Hubby did a wonderful job on the shelter... sounds like you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Carol............. said...

Goth is just gorgeous! Would hate for him to get mad at me though.....

Jennifer said...

I love it, so simple yet such a good design. My goats are hard on sheds too, even the does tear up sheds by ramming each other into the walls if the metal is not sturdy. I have been wondering how to put a shed in the big pen that they won't tear up and now I know. Thank you for sharing your wonderful idea and plans!

KathyB. said...

Thank-you all for your kind comments. My husband and I are working hard to improve our sheep pens, mainly for aesthetic reasons. The sheep are happy with their homes, well fed and covered and seem to enjoy continuity, we prefer the sheep be happy and their areas be visually pleasing . As you all know, animals don't share our views of what is best, and rams and bucks ( stallions, bulls) are downright destructive in BIG ways.The animals do keep us on our toes, and sometimes in the mud!