The new "kid" in town

New baby.

Our neighbors' Dorper ewe had her lamb last night, and I feel just slightly less proud than they do right now, because I am the one who gets to watch and feed these guys when their owners are away on vacation. So I've of course developed something of an attachment, and watched this pregnancy as it has developed. 

I headed down to their pasture as soon as I got the call about the new lamb, and just stood around enjoying watching the new mother and her little one together for awhile. The weather has been mild and so this has been a perfect time for this ewe to lamb; a few weeks ago it was so cold I think it would have been a lot harder on everyone because the nighttime temperatures were so cold. 

Proud mama.

Not sure if they are going to keep him/her or not, but we've offered to buy it (and another one which is due later this week) so we will see what happens. I would love to have a couple of sheep down in our pasture for brush control and general bucolic cuteness. Here's a pic of the little one, standing up and looking good! 

It's always a happy thing when new life comes into the world, and so I can truly say today's a good day in the neighborhood! 

Dad wanted his pic taken, too, so I obliged.

Dorper Sheep

So our neighbors just bought four Dorper sheep, two ewes and two rams.  They think the ewes are probably pregnant.  This could work well for us; with the neighbors having a couple of lambs soon we could potentially buy them and would not have to take actual delivery of them until next fall or winter -- which would give  the lambs time to mature and be weaned and us plenty of time to get fencing and shelter taken care of. Hmm.  

The idea of owning some larger livestock seems to be creeping into our possible future, especially if it is just a couple of sheep. They don't climb like goats and don't bray like donkeys. I'm liking the idea. Big Ag is not so certain. I am working on that.

The Animal Question

When you get married, the first question everyone starts to ask you is, "when are you going to start a family?"  When you buy country property, the question everyone starts asking you is, "when are you going to buy some farm animals?"

We successfully dodged this question for quite awhile by stating we wanted to put in our orchard, vines and berries first, which people pretty much accepted because it was sound logic. The things that will take the most time to accomplish, like raising a tree until it's large enough to produce, should be the first priorities when growing a homestead. Besides, we already had chickens, and as everyone knows, they are the gateway drug to farm animals, so getting more animals was pretty much a done deal.  

But now that the permanent crops are in and growing, we've begun to ask ourselves the question again....when, and if, we should be getting some animals.

I think at this point, it's safe to announce we've decided the answer is "yes" to the when question, and "soon" to the other.  It's spring, so there's lots of goats, sheep, donkeys, llamas, and alpacas available. And our lower pasture area has never been more in need of some critters to munch down the spring grasses, before they dry out and become a fire hazard.

But its an exciting prospect, the idea of being able to head down to the pasture and see some animals grazing.

Rest assured, updates will be published as they happen.

About some sheep

Our town is in a bit of an uproar right now over some sheep.  Some hikers in the local hills recently came upon a flock of sheep where many were laying dead in the field, and quite a few were dying.  They looked emaciated and had recently been shorn, the latter being a big bad because a fairly chilly rainstorm had just pummeled the area with rain and high winds for four days.

The enterprising hikers then proceeded to take our their trusty cell phones and videotape what they saw.  They then handed the video over the the sheriff's department and PETA, asking for an investigation.  The investigation is ongoing.  But the sheep shit hit the fan as soon as the first videos began going viral.

Once again, my fair city finds itself at odds with one another -- the "citiots" versus the "hayseeds."  Town versus country.  Moved-here versus born-here. Cultured versus down-home.  You get the picture.  It's not cut-and-dried down those lines, but close enough.  Debate is heated, to say the least.

Many people are asking what I think are legitimate questions. Why shear your sheep in February, when a major storm is expected to hit? (friends of the livestock owner say the storm was "stronger than expected," but that is just not true.  Strong storms for the end of the month had been predicted for at least 10 - 14 days leading up to the event.)

Then there's the debate about the condition of the sheep. Some were clearly half-starved. Of course they are skinny.  It's the drought!  There's no food in the hills! says one side.
When animals are starving, you either send them to market early or provide supplemental feed, says the other side.

Then the usual volley gets thrown out from the rural side:  "People today just don't understand where their food comes from and how it gets raised." Considering the circumstances, that's possibly the best reason for going vegetarian that I've heard in a long time.  

But the fact is, knowing where your food comes from has nothing to do with this argument. It's like saying, "I tend to vote democratic, because I like the color orange."  Both are facts, but do not relate to each other.

People who do not understand where their food comes from can still recognize that throwing a dying animal into a trailer with dead ones is not practicing humane animal husbandry. You don't have to know how to butcher a hog or grow seeds to understand that shearing sheep in the coldest calendar month of the year is dicey, at best.  

And even city folk understand that when anything is insured for money, the loss of "product" may not be quite the tragedy that you'd think for the owners. For some this might mean not being willing to spend extra money on feed, or not putting a bullet through the head of a suffering animal and instead throwing it on a pile of dying animals so that you can claim it was already dead when you found it. I don't know what happened in this case.  But I have seen it happen elsewhere.

"Knowing where your food comes from" does not mean turning a blind eye to unnecessary, protracted suffering.  It's why fois gras and tiny battery cages for chickens are both illegal here in California. It's why organic foods are becoming more and more popular. It's because we do know where our food comes from, and we're committed to making  it better -- healthier and in the case of animals, more humane. 

And if you don't like that, then there's plenty of cheap land in other states where no such laws exist.  Maybe check that out.

And so, once again, I find myself in the odd position of being a country person agreeing more with PETA than some of my neighbors. (Which I'm loathe to do, because I don't think PETA is a particularly noble organization.) All animals we humans domesticate and keep we need to treat humanely, providing food and doing all we can to keep them moderately comfortable until the time that they go to our dinner table.  And if you can't do that, then bring them to market early and take a loss. It's part of the gamble that comes with ranching and farming and has since time immemorial.

To do anything else is irresponsible farming.  And to defend someone whose husbandry practices have been irresponsible because they're in the "good old boy" network, or because he's a nice guy, or has had financial difficulties, does not help anything.

Our town needs to clearly look at all the facts, and decide if this was the best that could have been done for these sheep.  And if not, lets bring the problems into the light of day so we can all learn from them.  Those sheep died what seems to be a pointless, preventable, and slow death, not only causing them suffering, but taking them out of the food chain where their deaths would at least provided physical nourishment for us or even our pets.  

I think, whether city or country-born, it's a no-brainer that we can -- and should -- do better.



If you want to view the videos, I am posting a link here, however I caution you that they are graphic and not for the faint-of-heart.

http://calcoastnews.com/2014/03/sheep-deaths-mother-nature-animal-cruelty/