Granddad Jerry and the Grumpy Ram

**This story was previously told with gross inaccuracies. I asked Granddad for the real story, and this is it!

Granddad Jerry grew up on a farm, and he worked hard to keep it up. He had a lot of responsibility there since his father had left and his grandfather was advancing in years. Granddad traded off with his younger brother Jock to make sure the work got done. Jock would come home from school and work all afternoon until Granddad got home from high school in Cincinnati, then Granddad would take over and work until midnight or later until all the work got done. Along with the hard work that the boys completed, there was also more than enough work for the hired hands.

Since there were so many variables in running a farm, some really great stories came from his work there. This one is about an old, mean, and grumpy ram that they kept around as a stud for the ewes.

There was a corn crib in this pasture that people would go to whenever they needed corn around the farm. It could be a tricky business, though, to get the corn, since the ram was very territorial. He would sneak up on people while their backs were turned and try to head-butt them. As soon as you looked at the ram, he'd stop  advancing on you, but you had to always be on the lookout.

Each time that anyone went into his pasture, the ram looked for his opening.

Well, one day as Granddad was doing his work near the pasture, he looked up because he heard some hoof beats. He took the scene in in a moment: One of the hired hands was at the corn crib getting corn, and the ram was charging him! Before Granddad had a chance to shout a warning,

WHAM! 

the ram head-butted the hired hand so hard that he was knocked several feet away, arms and legs sprawled out around him.

And that's the story of the grumpy ram.