Safe, Sound and Locked In
Steeplechase, my jumping ram on the lam, finally followed his nose to fresh hay and a friendly ewe this morning, sneaking in the gate I’d strategically left open while I walked away to bring water to animals in another pasture.
Steeplechase on the outside looking in…
When I saw him skitter through the opening, my heart just leaped. I’ve been trying to chase, lure, trick, scare and bully him in for days. Finally, all of the animals are where they belong and are, hopefully, secured. Now I feel that I can relax and enjoy winter.
The weather is just beautiful this morning, with the bright sharp sun that blissfully sometimes accompanies dry cold days. Even so, the season’s first serious ice storm is predicted to descend on us tomorrow and continue through the weekend, so we are scurrying around with the dread of impending doom. Battening down the hatches here means making sure everyone’s got heated water, adequate shelter and plenty of food. That’s required several trips into town to buy exterior extension cords, appropriate heating elements for all the troughs, and hardwood posts to shore up some wayward bits of fencing. We’re checking the troughs for ice every few hours, since the added load in addition to our electric fences could blow the outdoor circuits.
Looking out of the house to see sunny paddocks stocked with content animals clustered around golden-green clumps of loose hay is quite healing after yesterday’s demoralizing goat murder. The feeling of well-being and peace is a lot like tucking all the kids in for the night was when they were small. A parent is never so satisfied as in those moments after reading everyone their books, getting everyone their sip of water, and fluffing everyone’s blankets around their tiny warm bodies. Only with animals, there is no reading aloud and none of it happens indoors. But the satisfaction of sitting down at the end of the day knowing everyone has been well provided for is similar.
As the weather gets colder, we move the animals to closer pastures because caring for them is easier. Most of the year, we can’t see many from the house, as they are off in back fields. Winter is a favorite time for me, because we can observe our livestock with a glance through any window. Groups of goats curled up in piles, their slim necks entwined. Cows lying back to back, slowly chewing. Chickens perched on the backs of fluffy sheep, whose stick legs are tucked invisibly under their fleeces. Horses facing the same direction next to each other, manes and tails waving in tandem. Cats in the front porch swing. Dogs outside the back door. Geese in the dog house. Today the farm feels like one big happy family. And indeed it pretty much is, barring the occasional shooting.
We need each other. Domesticated animals obviously need us to keep them safe and sound. But we also need them to provide the rich manure with which we feed our sandy gardens and the various products which feed us and our customers. We can’t remain on this farm unless the farm can help pay the bills, and it’s up to us to manage the land and livestock in such a way that it does. That’s another reason I enjoy winter: when the snow locks us in, I’ll have time to read all the books I’ve got stockpiled to help me learn from the past year’s mistakes.
