Apologies if this angers some but I just wanted to put my thoughts down because I am feeling rather pensive after a trip to town.
I fed all the animals, made a quick hand-felted sheep for Jamieson’s Knitwear and then I went into town to get the Eggbox (Jimny) through it’s now-annual MOT.
This was the Jimny’s first MOT. It passed and the mechanic mentioned that it hadn’t done many miles (just over 3,000). I replied that it was a glorified wheelbarrow really!
Anyway, after the MOT, I went to the Agricultural Merchants that are next to the Marts (market) and Abbatoir.
Whilst collecting my animal feed around the back, I saw flocks of sheep in their stalls waiting to be sold with potentially a miserable fate ahead. And there’s always one that looks like Edna ***sniff***. We all know what happens. I won’t spell it out. I just felt very sorry for the sheep and wanted to take them home with me so they could live out their natural lives in green fields.
But it cannot be. I know that and I had to promise my physiotherapist and anaesthetist (pain clinic chap) that I wouldn’t have any more animals on my croft. Eight sheep is the allowed number, plus a handful of horses and ponies.
It also made me think, as I drove home, that my sheep really do not know just how lucky they are.
They have the world.
The worst thing they have to worry about is who gets ownership of their shed.
I guess the difference is that I see my sheep as pets and not food. It was just that the for-sale sheep’s resigned little faces in the mart stalls broke my heart. I should really avoid these places and just concentrate on hugging my own ungrateful lot.
(and I don’t want a row about agriculture and farming methods – I am a realist. I know how the world works. I was just sad, that’s all).
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I do get it & am the same.
I’m a vegetarian…for this exact reason. I don’t ever push my beliefs/feelings on other people, this is my personal choice in the face of what brings me incredible despair (I experience hyper-empathy which can spiral into the void if I’m not very careful) and everyone needs to do what they feel is best.
I’m sorry you were so upset today…it shows the goodness of you and yes, your lot should be far more appreciative of their life of luxury :).
Dear Frances
As long as there are enough people in the world who feel as you do, I think there will always be good Shepherds ,No Kill Shelters and PETA.
Hi looks like life on the farm is good I to hate all the restrictions pit on folk and the harmful things they want to add to the animals ,i refused on my small holding showing them none chemical ways of treating my flock better for the sheep etc ,i miss that side of life hopefully be back into it next year ,i find it hard finding your page not sure if its the Internet my end or the programs that run it ,last time I was in your neck of the woods was Wilma tullochs funeral been to main land for other funerals hoping to get up for up helly aa next year ,love your posts when I find them ,my youngest daughter has started rescuing ponies which she’s paying for thank the lord 😉 used to be my job anyhow keep up the good work glad your car got its mot im on my third car this year so hopefully this one lasts a wee while
Shall I put your email in the subscribe section and then you’ll get and email notification every time I post.
Yeah, I can see how you would feel. I don’t know that anyone following you would feel differently.
I have every sympathy with the way you felt today, Frances. xx
I hear you. Yesterday somehow on you tube , there popped up a show about sheep farming in Alberta Canada. These sheep on a massive scale were in this inside barn for their entire lives. I wanted to go and let the whole lot outside, let them see green, feel grass under their feet and breathe real air. How can we let this happen.
I have been a vegetarian myself for many years. behind every steak or chop there was once an individual who had feelings and was somebody. I do try not to be a pain about it, As you said, that is not the way the world works.
I totally agree, I cannot even go to the no kill dog shelter without risking at least a week of feeling dismal. I do eat meat, many in my family hunt and I do enjoy venison. I am very particular as to where I get my meat. Either I know the farmer and his/her methods or I buy products from certified humane farms. I do see the whole picture but if a creature is raised for the table I absolutely want its life up to that point to be a good one.
Like Melanie and Darby, I chose to become a vegetarian rather than face the reality of what was behind any meat on my plate, and that goes for fish. Every creature wants to live and feels pain. But we can’t save them all.
I understand, Frances, and I agree with you. If only we could save them all.
I know exactly how you feel.
I used to work next door to an auction mart.
Once a month on a Tuesday there was a horse and pony sale; the unsold ones were sent to zoos as food for other animals. I am a coward and had to book those days off.
I am not a vegetarian and never will be partly because I believe that life is all about balance. I can see why some people think they should be vegetarian but it’s not for me. I do believe that all animals should be treated well and not just as commodities.
Just another simpathizer here. I would feel the same.
it\’s heartbreaking. but at least your little flock is safe as any sheep can be ❤️