You never quite know what can happen during morning chores.
This morning, after feeding all of the critters, we were watching the adult rams. One was being chased by both Becky and the other rams. We’ve learned that when that happens, you must get the picked-on sheep out of the pen, or he’ll get injured.
We caught him and put him in with the ram yearlings. Of course, they all started bashing him, so we put him in an isolation pen instead. I went to catch him, trying to drag him out of the gate with one hand on a horn and one under his chin. And suddenly, the horn cap and part of the core broke off in my hand. I fell backward just as a ram yearling bashed my other hand holding his chin.
Now, we have a ram running around with blood spurting all over, I’m on the ground and can’t get up because I need that hand to push myself up, and I’m afraid to roll over and present a target for the upset and hyper ram yearlings.
Ken was manning the gate to keep everyone inside. He came and helped me up, and we regrouped. We got two crooks, then guided the injured ram out and into the aisleway. We cornered the ram and looked him over. The entire horn core was infected with pus coming out, so this was a problem long before it broke off. He was bleeding a lot, with blood pouring out of the horn core and all down his face. I went inside to get a dose of antibiotics and blood stop powder.
We got him cornered and decided to use a sheep tractor to walk him to the isolation pen. During the move, he managed to get his head under the panels, run partly out, hook the jug panels on the handle of the wheelbarrow, and topple it over. I had to let go because my wrist couldn’t hold the panels, and Ken was trying to catch him, but couldn’t get into a safe position. So now, we have an injured ram on the loose, running freely through the hay barn and yard area. After a bit of a bobble with the ram opening the gates to get out of the hay barn and into the main yard, we finally got him cornered. Ken used jug panels as a squeeze chute, and we successfully got the antibiotic into him.
We ended up not needing the blood-stop powder. It looks pretty awful, but it has stopped bleeding on its own. From past experience, if we wash it, it will just start bleeding again. Considering the infection, the best course of action was just to keep it out and in the open for a while.
Looks like this one’s getting a trip to the slaughterhouse as soon as he’s off slaughter withdrawal. We’ll double the recommended withdrawal time, and possibly more, just to be safe. Slaughter withdrawal is two days, but I doubt we’ll be able to get him in for several weeks.
My wrist is OK. I’ve got ice on it, and I took some aspirin. It’s not broken, but it’s definitely swelling a bit.
Just another day at the farm.