A Very Late Sunday Reading

 

Been a terrible week all told. Not only because of these horrible undocumented and uninvited Canadian Temperatures that rudely set in but I guess the end of the railroad squabble arguments opened up a bunch of rail cars that all decided to take a massive dump on to my lot Friday Afternoon and early evening so I had about two dozen vehicles waiting for me Saturday morning when it was about 16 degrees with 18 mph winds out of the North. North would be the way to Canada from here if you are geographically challenged.

Keep that crap North of Iowa please.

Friday afternoon I thought I should split some more wood in case I didn't make it home early enough Saturday and after about half an hour of trying I finally gave up the attempt to get the log splitter started in this arctic cold. So I rushed home Saturday afternoon as the temps had mercifully rose a few degrees so perhaps I could get it started. Instead what I find when I get home is my old Blue Faced Ram laying in his stall refusing to get up even for his grain. 

Remember I had seen him fall down Thursday? Well I guess his weight loss, his age and the cold had finally taken it's toll. I noticed last year after the grass died he began losing weight and despite an extra ration of grain and all the hay he could eat the same thing was already happening this year. He is the first and only full bred Blue Faced Leicester sheep I have ever had any experience with and although nine years ago when we got him the books all said it was a very hardy breed apparently from what I am reading now they have a habit of not aging well. Not sure how I missed that little tidbit nine years ago but weight loss and needing inside accommodations all Winter was mentioned. It also said 7 to 8 year lifespans were typical. Well our old Ram was 11 last Spring and Missouri Winters usually seem to be more moderate than inside in North England I always thought.

Instead of splitting wood yesterday evening I covered the old guy up in bedding as much as possible and tucked him in with a bowl of grain and some water right by his handsome Roman nose and said goodbye. This morning he was gone but he did eat most of that grain before he left us and drank a good bit of water before it froze up solid. 

I always feel a bit guilty whenever I lose  a sheep and wonder if I did something wrong but I place some faith that he was well above average age so that it probably wasn't me even though I was not aware his breed would benefit from extra Winter accommodations. Still he made it nine years under the same Winter conditions he died under so I am just leaning more to old age than anything else. Not sure if they make an Ensure type drink for old Rams and frankly it isn't like I could bed him down with any of the ewes for more warmth. I guess I could have forced a whether in there with him but he never had any respect for any whether and probably would have killed one of them regardless. 

So I spent most of the morning attending to his remains (which meant a shallow area I always have pre-dug and about 3 feet of barn waste on top for composting). Works very well and seems to be deep enough to stop scavengers and breaking down the remains to the point that every part disappears quickly. I have never taken any compost from it and just let the entire pile return to the earth when it is done. 

Most of the old guys around here think I am crazy when they hear I had to actually depose of an old stock animal. They look at me like I am some foreigner when I refuse to even consider taking all the old animals to market but I have always kinda felt they deserve some kindness in the end not a frightening change that leaves them lost and alone anyway. Some call it bambi-ism but I have worked enough sale barns to know it does cause the old animals a lot of distress and I see no reason to force that for a few bucks that hardly matters anyway. If that was the case I probably would have butchered them before it got this far anyway.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!