I'm not going to try to be the tough farmer today. No, today I write with a hole in my heart. That's the space that my lambs used to fill. Yep, they're gone. I know, I need to toughen up. And actually, I'm quite proud of myself for handling it so well.
After all, that was the deal. They were to be butchered in the Fall and here we are. I can't say that made it any easier to say goodbye to them. Of course, it doesn't help that we bottle-fed them and bonded with them. And it doesn't help that they were SO cool and friendly towards us. And it certainly didn't help that since they trusted us with their lives, it was super easy to load them up and take them away.
That was the deal though. And we gave them the happiest life we could. Since they were orphans, they wouldn't have been good for breeding and keeping sheep over the winter means buying or growing hay which we're not prepared for. We don't even know where we're staying for the winter! They were also all males (Rams) and their cuteness and sweetness would soon have turned into aggressiveness. I have heard stories of people being knocked over and injured by their rams.
They were so much fun and so easy to raise. Nate and I could have spent all day sitting with them, scratching their heads. There are definitely more lambs in our future but there will only be those 6 that were our first.
To top things off, we've started processing some of our turkeys and they too leave a little hole in your heart each year. They've got a sweetness all their own and it's hard to see them go.
That's the price we pay for providing good, clean, healthy food for folks.
Sigh....this get's easier, right?
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