[Jacob-list] Horn trim: Not as hard as I expected

[Susan L. Nielsen]

Ever since a riot of young ram head-butts a couple of months
ago, I've been watching the horn of one of the ram lambs. One
of his laterals got knocked downward, and I thought it would 
come off, but it didn't. Instead, it sort of re-anchored itself,
but not at the original angle.

So I've been dreading this day, when we decided we really had
to trim the end of it. I'd put it off as long as I thought I
could -- it was pointing into his cheek and finally there was
no room for my finger between it and his jaw.

I re-read everyone's posts on the subject (especially Fred's,
in which he says he trims horns with _3_ people in attendance!).
I was unable to find a wire saw, so I got one of those little
frames for a hack-saw blade, where the blade sticks out the end
of the frame and you can get the blade inside a loop to cut.
I would have liked a slightly coarser saw, but had to settle
for an 18-point blade.

There are not 3 of us, but we decided to go at it anyway. I had
a bunch of ropes handy, to hog-tie the little bugger if we had
to. But in the end, Richard threw him and then lay across him.
That fine little ram never budged. I went to work, and he was a
very brave sheep. His eye about bugged out of his head, trying
to watch whatever it was that was happening to him. The hack-
saw worked fine, and there were no sharp points anywhere to jab
him in the eye with or anything. 

We even judged correctly how much I could get off without causing 
him to bleed! Not that they seem to mind much what _they_ do to
their horns, or how much they cause themselves to bleed. 

Anyway, I am much relieved. It was making me queasy, looking at
that horn headed for his jaw. I would recommend the hack-saw thing.

Susan
--
Susan Nielsen, Shambles Workshops      		|"...Gently down the  
Beavercreek, OR, USA -- snielsen at orednet.org  	|stream..." -- Anon.
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