After the first year that Chet and Landon showed their lambs at the Alameda County Fair, we decided that they needed a better quality ram to do really good at the fair. So at the end of the fair we purchased the Fair Championship ram for $150. The people who sold it wanted to keep it a little longer to show it at the California State fair so we had to wait a month before the delivery of the ram. In the meantime we had to get rid of the old ram. No problem I thought.

Our place in Hayward was 110 foot by 800 foot and was divided into three pastures below the boy's play yard. You can see in the picture whole place. On the top is our house and below that a play yard. The top pasture has a chicken house and a barn. The middle pasture had a shelter for the sheep to get out of the rain and sun and the third pasture at the bottom had the same shelters. Each pasture has an automatic watering trough. With three pastures we could rotate the sheep so the grass had a chance to grow while they were in other pastures. You can also see the sheep in the lower pasture.

Well the day of the livestock auction was that Saturday so we all went down to the lower pasture to round up the ram to take him to the auction. He didn't seem to take any pleasure in our idea of getting him up to the top to take him to the auction. At first we tried to catch him and he ran every time we got near. Paul finally roped him with a lasso. Success, we thought. Guess again. He went rubber legged and refused to stand up. Whenever we got near to him he flopped on the ground. We still had the rope on him and we would back away and he would stand up. We tried to herd him to the upper pasture and he would have none of that and down he flopped. In desperation we turned the hose on him with no effect except he was now wet and heavier.

The time for the auction was getting closer and no success so far. We finally got the wheelbarrow and with a Herculean effort the four of us, Bernice, Paul, Chet, and Landon we loaded the 250-pound ram in the barrow. With Mom and the two boys pulling on a rope attached to the wheelbarrow and Dad on the handles we struggled to get the wheelbarrow up to the top of the property. It was a hot and difficult time to do this. We rolled him into the van and off Chet, Landon and Dad went to the auction. We waited at the auction for the sale. As we waited for our sheep to be sold, Chet asked me what we would do if he didn't sell. I replied, "If he doesn't sell we will abandon him and go home."

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