Sometimes I find being a shepherdess is one of the most excruciating jobs of my lifetime. Now don’t get me wrong. The majority of the time my flock brings me peace and joy, but occasionally I have to make monumental decisions. I make the agonizing decisions on the farm as to who gets to live here and who gets to move on.
Some farmers make their decisions about which sheep to cull without batting an eye. Sheep number 2985 goes to market. Numbers 3009, 3051, 3101 all go to the auction. I, on the other hand, make these agonozing decisions with heartfelt thought. I have to take blame for tortouous selections.
From day one I named all of my sheep. Giving a sheep a name humanizes them to me. Each animal has its own personality and look. The ewe with the circles around her eyes is Panda. The first ones born on the farm were Little Pig, Peanut and Little Joe. Mocha, the bottle baby, races to greet me when I enter the pasture.
Who will Go?
So, as the flock grows agonizing decisions on the farm are made. Linnie has mastitis. Gone. Lipstick didn’t conceive this time around. Gone. In addition, Birdie is not regaining her weight back after giving birth to twins. Gone. Equally important, Minnie didn’t nurse all of her triplets. Because of that, I bottle fed two of the three. Gone. As much as I don’t want to, it’s time to move the old wethers on. Gone. Sniffles is eleven and a half years old. It’s her time. Gone.
Who Will Stay?
I can’t do this. Maybe I should give them another year. It was a rough winter. Equally important, the nutrition was poor. Coupled with the fact that Birdie is only three. I love Lipstick! She has given me nine lambs over the years. Always a farm favorite, Minnie has to stay. But then there is Sniffles, the matiarch of the flock. The queen. Yet I have to make the agonizing decicion on the farm to let her go to auction. I have to let them all go to auction. I know what’s right even though it tears me apart. The decision is made. Consequently, all of these sheep will go to the livestock sale next week.
Almost Auction Time
Since the auction is approaching I take another look at my flock. Were the agonizing selections made about the farm animals the right decisions? I feel familitary coupled with an overwhelming saddness as I locate Sniffles, the dowager. She is moving slowly, in back of the others. Furthermore, I see that she is limping a bit. I slowly approach the ewe so that I can take her by her bell collar and escort her to the barn. My old ewe deserves a little extra TLC before she has to go. For this reason Sniffles gets some grain and a scratch behind her ears.
In the morning we go to the sheep barn for our usual chores. First, Laine, Shira, Max, Boo and Sullivan, our livestock guardian dogs, are called in for their “supper.” Sometimes they come in and other times they ignore us. Today only Laine and Max saunter in. Next, Honcho, Red Demand, aka Red Man/RD, and Amadeus, our breeding rams, and their ladies are given fresh water and hay. They push their way to the feed bags ready to greedily chowing down.
Agonizing Decision On The Farm Reversed
Since Sniffles is now in the barn I check on her too. “Lamb!” Yes! There’s a lamb in her area. I don’t believe my eyes! “Lamb,” I yell again. OMG! Sniffles has a lamb at her side. A beautiful white ewe lamb. The elderly ewe had been put in with Red Demand for a day last January, but she had no signs of being marked. Sniffles had been rubbing up against the red ram’s fence so we let her visit R.D. They must have had a secret rendezvous.
Unfortunately, we spot another lamb that for some unknown reason didn’t make it. Twins. Sniffles appears to be straining still. For this reason I make the decision to check for a third lamb. Indeed there is a third that had passed away in the womb. I focus on the nine pound ewe lamb spronging around. Through the sadness there is a light. Though two of the triplets didn”t survive, this tiny white lamb has saved our eleven year olds, Sniffles, life. The agonizing decision made earlier in the week on the farm is reversed. Sniffles will continue to live comfortably at Rowdy Mountain Farm for at least another year. She will extend her rein as the queen.
