The birth rites of spring

[red]

Thanks, Red. But can you eat that particular lamb the same as any other? I will never be a vegetarian but I could not farm.

John

well it looks like we are only going to get one lamb this year..
so yes, it will be that particular lamb.. the one that rushes up to us to say hello, (his mum is friendly with us and it kinda knocks off on hm) bounces around the place and is generally cute.

but I eat meat. If I cannot follow through then I am being two faced about it.. and besides.. knowing the actual lamb is part of what is good about it. I know he is living a good and natural life. He will be raised entirely on mums milk and grass - not fed feeds, so no extra eco footprint.I will know what went into him. Better for him and us.
as i said.. it is interesting that we can pat him, and enjoy him and still look forward to the meat.
I was apprehensive about my son, but he knows that the whole reason we have gone in for lambing is to raise our own meat.

[red]

Ina, you are spot on about lions, but aren't they such great eaters and their table manners are excellent. Back to lambs. What do they smell of, my old aunt has an old dog and she, the dog, smells of age but a lamb must be something different?

John.

I quite like the smell of sheep now...

the oil on their wool - lanolin has a particular smell and can be difficult to wash off.. but its not an unpleasant smell

[johnhcrf]

It was interesting hearing you mention your wariness of your son's reaction. Is that a job for the woman to break it in gently?

John.

[ina]

Just read about it this morning - ravens attacking lambs and fallen ewes seem to be a problem in some areas! I'd never heard of that before, and it's certainly not happening here.

[johnhcrf]

Ravens are clever birds, they will exploit weaknesses. Are they protected from ancient times? If so, they should be hunted from livestock.

John

[ina]

I hear they were hunted almost to extinction in the 50s, and where considered a rare bird since then. Which is why it has come as a bit of a surprise this year that in some parts of the country (I believe around Inverness, for example), they have become a serious nuisance again!

[red]

It was interesting hearing you mention your wariness of your son's reaction. Is that a job for the woman to break it in gently?

John.

nah. He grew up on a farm.. saw birth and death before I had decided he even should! - he knows where meat comes from, I am very up front about it.

so no breaking anything gently in needed. I wondered if he would feel different as this is 'our' lamb.. or 'our chicks' but he doesn;t

I can remember him in his high chair asking for 'more dead bird please'...

tbh I feel a little exasperated when people let their kids be 'oh we couldn't eat Billy!' whilst tucking into some other animal. I believe in either vegan or acceptance. We do acceptance.

[johnhcrf]

They seem to be long-lived and possibly no predators, save an eagle. Maybe they should be fed in towns to draw them away from livestock. They are harbingers of death. On a grey morning there croaking is quite unsettling.

John.

[MKG]

"I can remember him in his high chair asking for 'more dead bird please'... "

Love it.

[ina]

Maybe they should be fed in towns to draw them away from livestock.

I think that might get owners of cats and smallish dogs worried!

Don't think I've ever seen one - it's all crows around here. And yes, they do go for the eyes of ewes and lambs, too, but only if those animals are already dead, or can't move away... So the best thing to do is keep a close eye on your stock; make sure no ewe is down and can't get up, no lambs born outside are too weak to fend for themselves etc. The problem with this is, of course, that no farmer nowadays can afford to spend that much time on their livestock. After all, they have a living to make. Back in the good old times, when you still got a price for lamb that paid for the inputs, you could afford to have only half as many sheep per shepherd... And spend twice as much time on watching over each of your animals.

[johnhcrf]

I have not heard of pets locally in town being bothered by ravens. They tend to appear at early and later morning in gardens swinging on the clothes lines and croaking or waddling down the road checking out the overnight rubbish. They are not even afraid of cars, side-stepping them before returning. They seem quite intelligent.

John.

[MKG]

Makes me wonder how the human race ever got started with all of these dreadful ravens around.

[red]

cant remember when i last saw a raven

crows, jackdaws and magpies yes.

and yeh they get the blame for attacking a fallen lamb/sheep but chances are high it was dead already.. they are more carrion eaters than attackers. I reckon same with foxes to a large extent too.

[johnhcrf]

These birds are larger than crows with large helmet shaped heads and enormous beaks. Rooks, ravens I'm not sure of the exact name, but they have a different shape from crows. Or are these all crows?

John.

[ina]

They belong to the same family...