Monday, November 23, 2009

Don't call a friend, call a farmer

Today I was astounded at how much real farmers know about their livestock. Being just a beginner and learning the ins and outs of my small farm keeps me busy but today’s experience was a prime example of how little I know about livestock farming.


For the past week one of our ram lambs – which are 7 months old – has been limping. He is the smallest of the 3 and I assumed that perhaps he had been trampled on or hit about a bit and would come right after a few days. Needless to say, a week later he is still limping and not using his hind leg at all and it has begun to swell. So I did what any good wanna-be farmer would do – I phoned a real farmer. I had even begun to think that we might have to slaughter this animal early as he just seemed to be getting worse, so when my farmer friend Gerhard De Villiers told me to examine the leg and look for a simple tick I was rather sceptical. So off I went to look for a tick, all the while thinking that Gerhard had to be wrong as this looked much more serious than that and this animal was a goner.

Well, I was soon proved wrong as there in the middle of this poor rams hoof was the largest tick I have ever seen. I couldn’t believe that such a small animal could cause such severe pain and damage. So he has been removed and hopefully our little guy will recover soon and be leaping out in front with his brothers once more. However, I learnt that a real farmer knows his animals and can identify the cause of a problem just by hearing of the symptoms. I have been humbled and hope to one day graduate to being a real farmer, paying as much care and attention to my animals as any good farmer can.

In other news, we seem to be having a game of musical nest boxes in the hen house as each time I go to check on the now 3 hens sitting on eggs in the hen house, they have switched places. So much so that today one of the new chicks could not tell who his mother was and is sitting with the hen next door.

But my highlight for the day was not doctoring our sheep’s foot or checking for chicks under the hens but it was spending the late afternoon with my two daughters watching them frolic and wriggle in our new muddy dam. They were like 2 dirty muddy hippo calves rolling in the mud and water having the time of their lives, and I was having the time of mine watching them. It was even more rewarding knowing that my children are living their childhood in the wonderful nature of the country side. That they don’t only get to enjoy these freeing experiences on weekends but on an ordinary Monday afternoon when other kids are at aftercare centres or watching TV at home. I thank the Lord for this rare and wonderful opportunity.


1 comment:

  1. Hi there,

    I am a copywriter working with Sustainable.co.za. I would love to get in touch with you about your blog, please email me at catherine@mvi.co.za if you get a chance.

    Kind regards,

    Catherine Scott

    ReplyDelete