Remember how I saved our rams from the flooded field above last weekend? Remember how we sandbagged the back ditch to save them and their hay?
How do you think they repay us? By bashing through a wood fence post and taking the fence down into the back yard. And then, naturally, bashing each other. Look at Jocko, the eldest ram.
These rams have been together for almost one year. There is no reason for this nonsense. Fortunately McFly and Rhett are becoming meat this next weekend.
And Shaun is too gorgeous to eat.
I separated the rams which took a while. Then our 14 year old practically skin and bones hussy of a ewe Ebony decides to tease them through the fenceline. I had to drag her back by her neck wool to the barn to persuade her to eat.
INJURIES UPDATES:
Vanessa is on the mend. She finished her rehab and has her last vet check up next week to see if she qualifies for unsupervised outdoor activity.
I, on the other hand, had my worst day yet yesterday. Vicodin only helped briefly. I started Neurontin last night. I am scheduled for my steroid injection on January 5th, am starting massage tomorrow, and PT December 28th to see if any of that will help. I wish I was “wagging my way back to health”.
Oh, Donna! How awful! I remember how bad it was when I had a bunch of rams. Now I only use ram lambs and then sell them (or eat them) as yearlings! I just can’t deal with their violence, all by myself.
I DO so hope you can get some relief from your pain. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful Christmas present?
I wish you peace and good health in the New Year.
Thank you, so much, for your bid in my Silent Auction!
Rams are way too violent. We keep the good tempered ones and eat the rest.
I really wanted to be in less pain by Christmas. It does not look like that is going to happen though. Hopefully in the new year I get get some relief.
You are very welcome on the bid. Let me know what I owe you with shipping, and I will paypal you.
Yikes – dragging sheep around with back problems! I had back problems earlier this year and now I’m going to a physiotherapist because I knew I didn’t want to keep dealing with it the rest of my life. I am a real fan of physiotherapy.
Anyway, I do have 1 80 lb goat…..and man – she is strong! I can’t imagine dealing with rams, and am sorta hoping to never need to get a billy (hoping someone will let me breed my does to their billy……fingers crossed……). My friend Andrea has Icelandics too – and when her ram Reynold is feeling frisky, she is afraid of him.
We were hovering around 0 the last few weeks but it’s dropping now – -6 C today.
Fortunately with Ebony I was able to walk upright with her neck wool in my hand. With the rams it was just a matter of walking around with my sheep hook to separate and then chase them into their field.
Our bucks are easy compared to the rams. They are not aggressive at all. Just stinky and hard to catch.
My two billy goats were fighting yesterday and the polled one has horrible raw spots now. Just blame the testosterone! Sorry to hear you’re still having such problems with your back. Hopefully the shot will help if you can make it that long.
Thanks Teresa. I will blame the testosterone.
I have neck problems, so I know how you feel. If you have an opportunity to try acupuncture (i.e. depending on where you live, if your insurance helps cover it, etc), I found it helpful. Not sure if it was the ying or the yang (or however they describe it) or the decreasing of the stress that makes the neck pain worse, but it did help. I also spend quality time on a heating pad. One last tip is this product called Biofreeze. Some massage therapists and PTs use it. It’s this gel like stuff that is basically menthol, but it feels so good to put it on. The research says that it doesn’t really do anything to the injury, but it’s the distraction that keeps your mind off the pain. And the cooling sure feels nice.
Hope you feel better soon.
Thanks for the tips. I do have a referral for acupuncture, so I need to pursue that. Glad to hear it helped you. In the past I used thermacare heat wraps which helped alot. This morning I was thinking I should use those again as I am getting more muscle problems with this. I appreciate the tip in the Biofreeze. I will try it too.