I was raised on dry land sheep and cattle ranch. We ran 600 cows and 4000 sheep, not counting bulls, rams, lambs or calves. Some things I learned the hard way, and other times by watching.

My brother and I purchased two old Rambouillet ewes. They were pregnant and had lambs. They were also the only registered sheep I ever purchased. Two of the lambs were rams (bucks). One grew horns and the other was a natural mulie, in simple terms he didn’t grown horns. When they were about a year old they were mixed with some Suffolk bucks. The fights began. The bucks had a hierarchy of dominance. First the hornless Suffolks took on the horned buck. I was rather worried. They would back up and run and then jump into the air hitting the opposing animals in the air. Yes some blood was spilled, but they just shook their heads and continued with life. I don’t recall who won the bouts. Next the attention was turned on the hornless ram. I figured he was going to get his neck broken, or head bashed in. This buck probably weighed in a hundred pounds less than his Suffolk rivals. They squared off and the bigger ram made the run and threw himself into the air at the little defenseless buck. That little thing did even not take evasive action. He just stood there. The airborne buck thought he had an easy win. The little guy dropped onto his knees and braced, lining up with the big boy’s nose. The big boy could not change his airborne trajectory. There was a mighty crack. The airborne buck staggered and wobbled. Blood flowed from his nose. When he recovered it was apparent his nose was broken. When the dominance fights continued the little buck was avoided. The little buck always won because he never went head to head. He cheated and went head to his opponents nose. I recall having several bucks that had crooked noses.

We were in Powell Butte at the shearing pens. My job was to keep the ewes and rams pushed into the holding pens and then keep the individual shearing pens at around five sheep, and never run out. The ewes weighed in at about 250 pounds and the bucks were 100 pounds above that. I was a whopping under a hundred pounds, but I knew how to handle and move sheep. Well it happened. Two bucks decided they didn’t like each other and they stopped the whole process. They were banging heads and no ewes would go around them. Then I had a brilliant idea. I saw a shovel with a wooden handle. I decided to insert the shovel handle between the bucks just as they knocked heads. My timing and anticipation were perfect. Crash they went and then my arms felt like they were going to vibrate and fall off. As for the shovel handle. It was in splinters. Lesson learned. Do not get between fighting bucks

My brother and I were setting up sheep while dad and my granddad tagged sheep. It was a little chilly. There was a couple inches of snow on the ground. We were laying 4 foot by 8 foot pieces of plywood on top of the snow so the sheep would slide easier and the taggers could work with relative ease. The boards were ¾ inch and heavier than I wanted to pickup and carry. So I would tip them into the air and shuffle them into place. To make a long story short.. My hands slipped on the wet and snow covered wood. Where did the wood go? It followed the laws of gravity and went towards the ground. Somehow my face got in the way and my nose took the lead. I caught the board with that appendage and lost some hide. Now my face was cold enough that I felt no pain. That or I have a numb skull. My eyes watered. No big deal. We stopped for lunch and the cook gave me the evil eye and suggested I stay outside his trailer. I did not understand such a rude reception. It was suggested I find a mirror. The pickup mirror worked. I had leaked blood all over my face. Once the mess was somewhat cleaned up I could have lunch. Ron and I actually got paid for this job. Ron used his money to purchase a nice hunting rifle. I used my money to purchase Becky an engagement ring.

I learned the hard way about butting animals. Sheep keep their eyes open until a split second before impact. That means they are harder to avoid until they are in the air. Cows and bulls seem to shut their eyes a bit sooner. I could work bulls and cows with a prod pole because of this. The charge, the closed eyes; place the prod pole across the head and brace. In manure covered corrals it was sort of fun to get pushed around. When I got tired of the push I angled the pole and exited the critter. Now that was probably not smart, but it was a thrill. I showed my technique to dad. He sort of scorned my method and produced a pitch fork. Critters did not like the pointed ends. Pitch forks and sheep did not work.

Dad’s partner, Jack Shumway, fed the bucks by throwing bales of hay off the back of a pickup. There were between 80 and 100 bucks. The bales weighed about a hundred pounds. The bucks learned to meet the bales in the air. They had fun breaking the bale’s strings. Dad was feeding the bucks. He didn’t toss the bales, he rolled them off the pickup in chunks. Then dad hopped off the back of the pickup. You guessed it. A buck met him in the air. Dad got a heavy pipe and he and that buck danced until the buck kept his head away from Dad. Dad and I were feeding some bulls baled hay. I thought it was fun to throw the bales onto the bull’s heads. Dad corrected me. He said if I wanted to jump on a bulls head I was going about it the right way. The thought of a 2000 pound animal tossing me into the air was enough to stop that game.

I am writing this because it is once again lambing and shearing season. I have 14 ewes and a buck to work. The buck is large and I need to shear and trim his feet. I wonder how that adventure is going to come about? Becky and I did make a shearing table so I hope that works.