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Blood in The Barn! Hairy can no longer Toot his own Horn!

You know how only YESTERDAY Daisy promised not to head butt Hairy  in 2012? Well it was still 2011 yesterday. We were working in the barn unearthing the 1953 Dodge. It will be my asparagus truck for the spring, I am going to park it at the end of the track and sell my fresh asparagus from it. As you can see it needs a wee clean up and well, getting it running would be useful too, so this is Winter Work for Our  John.  So off to the workshop it goes. 

There was a muck around with pens, we had to open the big doors and get the truck out,  this resulted in the calves (Queenie and Baby Bobby) being momentarily stored in the pen where Daisy and Hairy hang out.  They got into a tussle, there was confusion and the next thing you know Hairy Maclairy had bright red blood pouring down his face.

So I went in with the broom (I must get myself a shepherds crook, sticks are so useful for directing animals around, a stick with a Hook would be fantastic) Queenie and Baby Bobby were shooed back into the back pen. I narrowed my eyes at Daisy who just looked innocent and with a flick of my yellow broom dispatched Hairy into the corridor pen.  Then sent Daisy to her room to Think about What She had Done! 

Within seconds we could see that the entire horn was gone.  Broken off at skull level.   Thank Goodness the bleeding had stopped as fast as it has started.  We sprayed the site with  iodine. He is such a good ram.  He munched away on hay quietly for a few hours, seemed no worse for wear  and then I put him back in with Mama.  Where he proceeded to finish off her hay as well.

This horn, pictured below has always been a bother.   He had his horns removed as a young animal but this one grew back. Though it grew as slowly as a glacier, at least twice a year John had to hold his head while I hacksawed it down a bit to keep it out of his eye. Never too much because we did not want it to bleed. It is dicey for a sheep to have the horn amputated when they are older, without using heat, as there are blood vessels in the actual horn. However very luckily he seems to have survived his surprise surgery without harm.

The  other reason that we are taking the truck out is that it was stored where the two new pens are going to be built.   The Winter Work list is rather long. In fact I am only revealing it to Our John in stages, so as not to risk a mutiny.

The Pig Pen will be built inside where it is dark and cool for sleeping and they will have a corridor to their outside yard where the paddling pool and their food and toilet will be. Then another larger pen for larger animals. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

c

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81 responses to “Blood in The Barn! Hairy can no longer Toot his own Horn!”

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  1. I’m envious of that truck. Not sure how I’d maintain it in France and Italy…but it’s soooo aesthetically pleasing. They just don’t design ’em like that anymore. As for the wee little horn that is no more…will it grow back again do you think? is that possible?

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  3. We had a go at Molly’s toenails (claws) this morning, and she survived it without bloodshed. I always find it nerve-racking – just a millimetre too close and there’s blood everywhere.

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  8. That was some headbutt! Poor Hairy. In many families, it wouldn’t be a holiday without some sort of altercation. Granted, losing a horn may be a bit on the extreme side but it is what it is — and it’s over now. You can all relax and enjoy these first hours of the New Year. 🙂

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    • I think they all got a little excited, they are a fiesty bunch sometimes! Now of course they are all sitting around like butter wouldn’t melt in your their mouths.. c

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    • I get it!! Once you explained it!! Funny! peace and light.. hmm, we have gale force winds with horizontal rain this morning.. There is sun now tho,, so the light has come.. c

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