Where there's life there's death.

'Tis a fact y'know, 'tis indeed very true. Where there's life there's death. It's the only fact we are sure of from the moment we are born - someday we will die. None of us know when, or how, but it will indeed come upon us. All the more reason to live life to the full I would say, we just never know when that double decker bus might be bearing down on us, to squash us flat...........

The summer has been a difficult one for stock, I have heard of many farmers who believe their losses may have been greater than usual, some with a virulent form of mastitis amongst their sheep, others losing sheep cowped/kessing (lying on their backs)due to heavy fleeces and wet weather, then there are those unexplained deaths, "she was just lying their like she was asleep". It can be frustrating, exasperating, heart wrenching even and that is without consideration of the financial loss. But it is generally accepted, as already said "where there's live ones there'll be dead ones". Livestock and dead stock go hand in hand.

A morbid subject mebbes, those working with stock are probably more hardened to the fact than city dwellers may be, but no matter how hardened you are there are times when even the hardiest can shed a tear.

There may be some out there wondering why this blog has been drying up somewhat, unlike the weather which pours out generously on an almost daily basis Shep has found inspiration and words resistant to flow of late. There have been personal issues to deal with, none less than the present one of my Mother.

Shep is finally spaened (weaned), let loose into the big wild world so to speak. As this posting is published I will be at the same crematorium I was at less than three months ago, in pretty much the same company as well. Yes, there will be tears, there will also be much laughter, catching up with folks, reminiscing and rejoicing.

It has been a long fortnight. My mother, whom asked so little of life (and gave so much), got her main wish, a wish to leave this world with her independence and dignity in tact. I was often told to "unplug the machines" or "shoot me" should she find herself in a debilitating state. I had no worries on that front as she went to bed one night and didn't awaken the next morning. A lady who had ailed little in her lifetime (a chest condition in recent years being little short of a growing inconvenience to her), had fulfilled her last wish; to leave this world peacefully, with dignity and still totally independent. What more could any of us ask for? How selfish for those of us left behind to wish it could have been any different.

So there you have it, my Mam is dead - snuffed it, curled her toes up, put it how you wish. Often upon finding a sheep just lying dead for no reason the wry humour kicks in and cause of death is pronounced as "lack of breath"! Guess Mam ran out of breath an' all. The coroner came up with a fancy name (they always do, but then they have degrees and some of us don't!) to us commoners, a massive brain bleed/stroke was the cause of lack of breath and boy! how fortunate is that, I could follow it up with "typical, Mam never did do things in half measures"! It is fair to say that myself, my brother, sister in law and Mams two grandchildren and many, many others do wish she'd given us a little bit of a warning, but then she always knew we liked surprises!

There are many happy memories to look back on, some very recent which is a blessing. Shep was a Daddy's girl it has to be said, Mam and I were probably too closely matched, both sharing strong personalities which it is fair to say did indeed clash in my youth.

With age comes wisdom and understanding (or so I've been told!), I have been able to look back to my youth and understand my mothers motives, her aspirations for her youngest and appreciate the fact that she helped forge me into the person I am today. As age crept upon both of us it drew us closer, the last conversation I had with my mother I felt as though I had been talking with a good friend, a true confidant - there is much to be said for that.

She had her hands full it is fair to say, but handled with firmness and kindness she saw her kids blossom and her grandchildren too. We all know how proud she was of us, even though her daughter didn't follow the path that had been hoped of her it was accepted graciously, "so long as your happy, that's all that matters".

A lady who didn't suffer fools gladly, abhorred any form of dishonesty and spoke it as it was - never minced her words. Never one to be in the limelight, always beavering in the background, door open to anyone "so long as they take me as I am". A lady who gave much and asked little in return, a friend to many and more than a friend to many more will be sadly missed by all of us. We all gain strength from having known her and knowing that her final wish was fulfilled.

Or was it? She was pretty much convinced that my brother and I would make a mess of her funeral arrangements (we were sternly told we couldn't organise her 80th last year "I know what you two are like" she said, as we stood before her with a wicked glint in our eyes), so much so she thought she ought to write down her wishes - well! Wishes have yet to be found............ Did she really get her final wish? Lets hope so, following the tearful bit at the crematorium with our family there is to be a memorial service to celebrate her life at her local chapel for all to enjoy, much jolly singing is the order of the day, gifts of wild daffodil bulbs for anyone who might attend ("flowers are for the living, they're no good to the dead"), hopefully we've done her proud, no doubt she'll somehow let us know if we haven't!

As the saying goes "To have loved and lost is better than not to have loved at all"

"Thank you for having been my Mam".

Optimism waning, or should that be raining?

Just a day or two back I was saying how I could make myself believe winter would be short - look on the bright side and all will be well. Umm.....my spirits are somewhat dampened, quite literally I may add. It's been raining and raining and.......... actually that is far too polite, especially for me, it has been pissing down, hammering down, call it what you want - WET, very wet.

Not just wet, mother nature decided gales were the order of the day too, horizontal rain what more could you ask for? A cold northeasterly wind just capped it off nicely. Today has admittedly been slightly milder, more of a westerly art and wait for it........ tomorrow might well be dry - way hey!!

Kale lost his kennel roof, unknown to Shep until morning when a very vociferous pup was found soggy wet in his roofless kennel, don't think he was too impressed, if he'd had any sense he would have crept under his bench for shelter, bigger fool he if he didn't.

Ground is now well and truly saturated.

Clarts (mud/mess) are now the norm, as seen here where cattle and sheep have passed by.

My wellie print. Wellies and leggings are probably going to be the norm from now on, especially if we have our usual Tarset winter weather (with the odd exception winter has become increasingly wet of recent years).

 

Wellies and leggins are grand winter wear, not only do they keep you dry, they also keep the clarts off so keep you clean too, then there is also the added bonus of the extra layer giving you that little bit extra warmth and windproofing, dare say they'll be sitting on the wellies for a while to come yet.

I spoke to the man who drives the dead cart this morning, they are being kept busy but then so are funeral directors, death must be a great business to be in. Everything dies eventually. Anyhow, the dead cart man was prophesying a busy few days, heavy rain coupled with cold gales would cause something to succumb somewhere. It's a bitter pill to swallow that you lose stock and then have to pay to have the carcase removed but then I'm getting on my high horse again, I've already covered this subject in the past http://blog.tarset.co.uk/2009/06/dead-meat-dead-money.html
He had actually called to put a calf out of it's misery, for some reason the calf had gone off it's legs completely and no amount of medication and TLC was going to see it bang up and gallop around. Last week the dead cart had visited the same farm to collect a dead cow, she'd had an accident. Lying on the dry ground on a drain back she had rolled over and like a sheep can she got herself stuck in the drain and died. All she had asked for was to lie on some dry ground, if only she had had the sense to lie still!!

 

I had been trying to work out how I could photograph wind, flying bent as we call it will often get whipped up off hill ground and attach itself to fence wires but there was none of that at hand. My eagle eyes spotted this wool on a barbed wire and thought you may be able to appreciate how windy it was, to the left of the wire is actually quite a few trees so this was a slightly sheltered spot and yet still the wool is blowing horizontally off the wire, it was indeed windy. One night I even thought our little cottage might succumb. I often think this mind you, the interior is cardboard and the exterior is wood (no- I'm not joking) and when the pictures on the walls start rattling around I do envisage waking in the morning to find the building has collapsed around me lugs during the night, fortuantely the worst to date has been a roofing sheet or two blown off and that was a few years back now.

 

The burns are boiling, much more rain and they will burst their banks, hopefully the drier forecast for tomorrow will see them run in a bit. This is of course helpful for the fish which are still migrating up stream to spawn (which I intend to cover shortly).

So, life is a tad soggy at the moment. Shep has been saved a drenching in sheep pens for a couple of days now, and thankfully so, as the common cold has reared it's ugly head with me nose running as hard as the burns at the moment. Shep has been lucky, most farmers and shepherds have got to go and tend their stock regardless of the weather conditions and personal health. Days like we've just had see wet top coats being changed frequently throughout the day until there are no dry coats left to be put on.

The stock are used to all sorts of weather, they have weatherproofing skins but it will still eventually wear them down, shelter is sought behind dykes (stone walls) or any natural rocky outcrops. Even undulating ground can provide a great deal of shelter and it's amazing how their natural instinct sets them out to find it. Hill sheep are so fortunate in this respect as they have a great deal of cover at ground level, rushes or tussocks of grass can provide an amazing amount of shelter. Field sheep can be less fortunate, especially if the field is wire fenced rather than dyked or hedged. Human intervention will often see these animals moved into a pasture which will afford them more shelter when the weather is truly at it's worst, nobody wants to encourage a visit from the dead cart.

So. I've had my winge. I blame the common cold! I'm already beginning to feel optomistic again. It's meant to be dry tomorrow, that's something to look forward to and hopefully it will see Shep get the last ewes in the area tailed too. What more could I ask for??!

Twin lamb disease update

You may remember I mentioned sheep being 'off' one Sunday. My instinct told me it would be twin lamb disease, my optimism remained as I felt I had noticed this problem quickly and hoped it could possibly be resolved.

Unfortunately nature resolved the problem. All efforts failed and the two ewes died.

For all you get hardened to death, it still frustrates you. Days were spent treating these ewes. One went down quickly the other was up and down like a yo - yo, until finally, she too succumbed. You feel as though you've failed, even though you knew the outcome was unlikely to be a good one.

There is absolutely no point in dwelling on the matter, there are many live ones and it is important to maintain their health and well being.

I do however feel that I may have learnt something. Discussing the subject with another shepherd I learnt a different twist on the logic of twin lamb disease.

As explained in a past posting, something triggers the ewe to call upon her own bodily reserves in an effort to 'feed' the lamb or lambs growing inside her, unfortunately this causes problems with her metabolism, a form of poisoning kicks in and invariably they die.

I was truly frustrated as these sheep had been well looked after, they were in good physical fettle prior to going 'off' and ought not to have had an excuse to succumb to this disease.

The shepherd I was talking with was quite adamant that in his mind twin lamb disease was a greater risk to fit (fat) sheep as opposed to lean (thin) sheep. His logic being that a fat sheep HAD reserves to fall back on when needed whereas a thin sheep didn't have the body fats to call upon when necessary. Therefore a thin sheep couldn't go on the downward spiral of draining her reserves as she had no reserves to drain.

My logic has added that if that is the case she'd probably naturally abort or lamb down a very weakly lamb which would most probably die either from being weak or from the fact the ewe would also probably not have sufficient milk to feed it. Again natures way. The result would be that the ewe would live to see another year. For all she was so lean and had no bodily condition once she was rid of the lamb which she couldn't rear anyhow she would then be able to build up her body and thrive and ultimately survive!

I have no idea whether this is fact or fiction but it does sound logical. I know of two neighbours with ewes waiting for the dead cart, both have been fed well and both have had twin lamb disease. Does make you wonder - but then none of us would be happy to see the ewes lean and unable to rear their lambs, we'll just have to put up with the odd ewe going down with twin lamb disease.

'That's Life'

Farmers, shepherds and stocks men get accustomed to life's highs and lows. Working with the unpredictability of the weather, stock, machinery, trade and the government day in day out hardens them to a degree.

Having said that they care, that's why they do the job they do, it's in their hearts. There'll be the shrug of the shoulders and the utterance 'that's life' when things go wrong but there'll often be a hurt, unseen to the outside world but there all the same which brings an unspoken understanding amongst those that know and deal with the same 'problems' day in, day out.

A phone call to a farmer last night brought about one of those moments, as when someone is bereaved, words fail, nothing can be said to make things any better. The loss is felt.

An explanation as to why fire engines were in the district - a cow in a cattle grid

A calving heifer (first time calver/young cow) no less, experiencing difficulties, so brought off the herd along with another for company to be driven to the steading with the intention of assisting the birth and having a healthy cow and calf as a result. If only that simple.

A lack of staff on farms makes every task more difficult, the farmer is dealing with an unpredictable cow alone. The gate beside the cattle grid is open but she spooks and for all her pal walks through, she decides to jump the cattle grid. The result? Not a pretty one.

On the bright side the calf was brought into this world alive, a small consolation to a man who cares. There is the financial loss, a heifer worth at least £1,000, vets bills, call out for emergency services?, dead cart to pay, powdered colostrum and calf milk to buy. Painful to the pocket but not what is causing the hurt that is felt.

Those who work the land are a tough hardy breed, resilient, hard working, committed and conscientious, they will shrug their shoulders and say 'that's life' but remember - they care.

Dead meat - dead money

That last posting has got me up on my high horse. All the fault of sighting my first Red Kite and then getting on thinking, must have far too much time on my hands, trouble is when you're clipping it may well exhaust the body but it doesn't really tax the mind and if like me your radio has bust then it gives you far too much time to think, followed by a damp morning when sheep are wet and you can't get on ........... a dangerous cocktail....

Pre 2001 life in the sheep world was bearable, cattle farming was clawing itself back from the BSE crisis but sheep were hanging on in, trade was bearable and life was trundling along pretty much as it always had. Bang! The bubble burst, every livestock farmers worst nightmare - foot and mouth - we wont cover it here except to say life was shite.

In those days farming was governed by MAFF (ministry of agriculture, fisheries and food), at least the title gave one the feeling they were involved with agriculture, however, they were deemed naff by the government and so in 2001 was scrapped and taken over by DEFRA (department for environment, food and rural affairs), still the government, just a different title and one which does not instill a great deal of empathy for agriculture itself.

The fallen stock scheme came into being, livestock no longer being allowed to be buried on the farm in case of pollution to waterways and to prevent the spread of disease to other animals, instead the farmers were to have the pleasure of a double whammy, not only had something died - an expense in itself, but they now had to pay to dispose of it, an average of about £17 per head per sheep. Quite literally dead money!!

No sympathy for the farmer?? Thinking he ought not to have animals dying on his farm?? People die every day, thousands of them I would imagine, unless they are in your immediate family or close friends it has little impact on you. And pets? how many people have spent a fortune on their pets at the vets surgery, but eventually, whether old age or through illness that pet will die. The only thing we are guaranteed from the day we are born is that we will die, under what circumstances and when, we do not know, but it is inevitable, it will happen.

So back to the farmer and his dead animals - it happens, and believe you me it isn't profitable.

The fallen stock scheme? intended to prevent the spread of disease, tell me, a wagon comes around on a Tuesday and Friday in this area, it pulls up next to you deadstock and drops the ramp, carcases are inside from god knows where and died of god knows what - is that really a sensible way of preventing the spread of disease?

A prime example is abortion. Abortion in sheep can be highly contagious, even spreading to women. Farmers and shepherds wives have lost unborn children just from handling dirty clothes at lambing time, not even from direct contact with sheep. What's to stop this wagon from carrying the same from farm to farm as lambing time will undoubtedly be one of the busiest times of year for the dead cart. We are lucky in Tarset and abortion isn't a major problem but could it be in the future?

DEFRA like many organisations seem to forget that farming and the countryside go hand in hand, in areas like our own here in Tarset with traditional methods of farming the farmers are actually the guardians of the countryside, if it gets overgrown and dishevelled it is of little use to them, if it's overgrazed again it is of little use to them. The countryside is their living and where their hearts are, they don't like losing stock, they really don't like paying for the privilege of losing stock - especially for a relatively pointless scheme, wagons burning fuel trundling around the countryside daily collecting something which could so easily be helping the balance of nature. We hear about global warming all the time, the effect of the motor car on the environment, we're all asked to do more to cut down on greenhouse gasses and yet our own government introduced a needless scheme - a hypocritical scheme. Oh boy - I am on my high horse!!!! Time to go to bed!

A world apart

Shep's been away out of the area. Yep, that's right the North Tyne was left behind as a wedding needed attending. Friday morning saw shep and the better half heading south towards Peterborough arriving in time for a tea time wedding and evening reception.

Interesting to note that once past Scotch Corner I never spotted a sheep, not to say they weren't there, just I never saw one, and very few cattle either. A great deal of arable ground though, every crop imaginable and many I could only guess at. A few grass fields had been cleared but again a pointer that maybe there wasn't alot of stock if silage and hay hadn't been grown.

Now up here in Tarset the fields are full of grass, or so it seems, however, the crops in many places are still light and silage/hay activity remains a week or two off. Down south the corn is almost ripe, potato crops are flowering, strawberries are being picked, maize is standing waist high........ there is no doubt about the North /South divide. Us and them are weeks apart in the growing season. A fact I learnt years ago when I went to lamb in the self same area. It was February, I travelled down with snow tyres on the van due to the poor road conditions up here, on arrival in a place called Exton,nr Oakham I was greeted with daffodils in full flower, I'd left snowdrops frantically trying to peer up out of the snow - a world apart!

A WORLD APART brings me to the radio report I heard at lambing time regarding a new eu directive. Farmers have had to pay to have dead stock removed from the farm for a few years now - yet another expense. At about £17 per sheep it sharp adds up, it's not so long ago that a dead sheep would be buried on site, where she'd fallen, those that you didn't come across were carrion fodder, helping the balance of nature, feeding foxes, badgers, crows and numerous other birds let alone all the creepy crawlies which we all like to overlook.

Now I do believe that I'd heard on the radio that due to the lack of deadstock on farms in europe the vultures were beginning to spread their wings and their territories, being seen in countries where vultures were unheard of, in their quest to find food - carrion - dead animals. So, the eu had concluded that farmers in certain member states ought to be allowed 'on farm disposal'.

'On farm disposal' - sounds like we have gone full circle, except in the good old days it didn't have a fancy name, it was pretty much taken for granted. Where there's live ones there's dead ones and the carcases help the balance of nature, however, farmers generally like to keep things tidy and so did go around with a spade and bury the remains, which after a day or two took a smaller hole than a fresh dead carcase would.

This brings me to my point in question, we don't have vultures in Britain, yet, but we do have other carrion eaters. The Red Kite, reintroduced a few years back, and first seen by myself on my jaunt to the wedding, they are carrion eaters to the point that a farmer in wales feeds them as a tourist attraction, getting scraps from butchers and throwing it all out at set times of the day allowing the general public to come along and enjoy the sight. Buzzards too, of which there are now vast numbers, we are also told eat carrion.......... this being the case should the eu directive not also include our own member state and allow us 'on farm disposal'?