Farm LIfe Lessons, WooDshed, breaking records
No rain this week, feeling more like October than early August. I’m sure they’ll be plenty of hot days yet ahead, but it’s been nice to work in some cooler weather.
Hallie’s goat enterprise was short lived. I went to take the dogs out with the chickens one night after getting back from the Rich Valley Fair over the weekend, but the dogs were not at home. They had ventured out the road 3/4 of a mile to the barn and attacked the goat. Mustang was still alive when we got to him, but just barely.
Hallie immediately started sobbing. So many emotions. Not just the pain and fear of loss, but the pain of betrayal. The dogs that she loved attacked the goat that she loved. It would’ve been hard enough to accept losing Mustang to a coyote or a wild animal, but her own dogs? She didn’t know how to handle it.
Hasten, who usually maintains a more stoic response when dealing with heartbreak, was also emotional. He hurt for the obvious reasons, but even more so, he hurt because his sister was hurting. And he didn’t know how to fix it. In desperation he said, “Dad, pray for him.” What was I to pray? What was I to say? We did pray. Not that God would bring Mustang back to life like he did Lazarus, but the sentiment of our prayer was that we would be better caretakers of the life God has entrusted to us. God made the goat for a purpose. And the dog for a purpose. And the farmer for a purpose. We are responsible for the dogs and what they do. And we are responsible for taking care of the goat. “Lord, help us be better caretakers of the living things you’ve put under our care.”
Lots of life lessons to be learned that tearful night. We should care about things. With the understanding that we will one day lose those that we care about. I want them to learn to accept loss because loss is inevitable. But I don’t want them to become numb to it. I want them to feel it and put that pain on themselves to the extent that they can carry it.
I disciplined the dogs more harshly than most of you would care to hear. I told Hallie and Hasten to tell Hazel and Dixie how they felt. I don’t know that the dogs understood (and I don’t know that they didn’t), but I know it did them both good to get it off their chest and explain to the dogs how hurt they were by what they did. We will be hurt by those we love. It’s hard to confront those we care about, but it’s often necessary if the relationship is to be restored. The dogs and kids are back on good terms. Amy, on the other hand, was not so quick to forgive. I don’t know if she’s spoken to the dogs all week. This incident still doesn’t remove the idea of goats from the farm. I think goats and cattle compliment each other and the ecosystem. We just need to do some more research on how to go about managing it. Along with everything else we’re trying to manage.
Aside from that, Amy’s parents came up this past weekend to help Amy with the Abingdon Farmer’s Market and to help me build a wood shed. It’s not quite finished. Hopefully, I’ll get the roof on it over the weekend.
We had a water scare earlier in the week with one of our groups of cattle. When 100 head of cattle are without water, the to-do list gets reprioritized pretty quick. Thankfully, the Circle B boys got us taken care of.
Monday was our 13th wedding anniversary. My mom kept the kids so Amy and I could have a romantic day of working separately on the farm. Ha. Amy had a romantic “office day” catching up on all her book keeping and farm admin stuff, while I had a romantic day of bush hogging pastures. We did, however, go for an evening walk together and splurge with ORVF steaks for dinner. Thirteen years later, we’re still dreaming big and chasing those dreams together. And watching them grow.
On Wednesday, we put another 300 chickens in the freezer, breaking our processing speed record. 300 chickens killed and on ice in exactly 2 hours. With several of our regular crew going back to school, I doubt we’ll be able to match that pace again this year. We parted about 140 of them that afternoon. A good day working with some fine folks.
In other news, we added another 17 piglets to the farm yesterday. Filling herd shares, coolers, and orders today. Come see Amy at the Abingdon Farmers Market tomorrow for your local pasture raised beef, pork, and chicken.
Have a good week.
Will