Queries about Sheep-Farmers and...

kerry4sam

Might sound like a strange question, but something I saw today has me pondering...

Would farmers get emotionally connected/attached to their animals they know would eventually be slaughtered?

Today I saw this farmer herd his sheep down from a hill; seemed to be over 20 approx; as I'm sure he would've done countless times before only this time
At the end of the field was a truck waiting to carry the sheep off to be slaughtered

What would that farmer have genuinely been thinking considering the time; energy; monies invested in his sheep and not long after I passed they would've been out of his hands, gone from lickle lambs to grown sheep soon to be no more.

~ Just how difficult would something like this be?
~ Is it possible for the above to happen and the farmer just see it all as business and nothing more?

My Late Loving Dad grew up on a Dairy-farm and he would answer any question we had on the subject after visiting his home-stead as children on upward. It would be different though when you invest your time and energy as opposed to me just visiting the farm as often as we did. None of us grew up as vegetarians, but
~ Would it be common for someone who grew up on a farm to be vegan or vegetarian even?

Hope you don't mind me asking all these,
Many Thanks,
kerry4sam

Green farmer

Believe it or not it takes so much time, effort, cost and energy to get a lamb to the stage where they go in the lorry, the feeling is mostly one of relief !!! You've managed to get over the finish line. However there's also a sense of pride.

Personally because of my own beliefs, I wish the animal Godspeed in its journey to the other side and thank it for the sacrifice it had made so others can be nourished.

Connemara Farmer

One of my jobs when I was younger was to look after the fattening lambs in the shed for Dad. We had a mix of blackface and border leicester/suffolk crosses in. Walk back and over the road twice a day, feed, hay, straw, do any jobs that needed doing. Anyway local butcher wanted X amount of lambs so we picked them out and let the down the back of the slaughterhouse as normal. That would be where the tale normally ended. I had to return to slaughterhouse at some point later, can't remember why, but had to go in to the slaughterhouse to talk to butcher.

I turned the corner and paused mid step, there on the floor were all the heads of the animals I'd been looking after.

But that is the job.

I'm as guilty as a lot for keeping a favourite ewe too long and things like that. But when it's time to go, it's time to go. Up the ramp and close the door.

Have three ewes at the moment that when their day comes I won't be at all happy about it.

All the flock gets the same care, but some will always stand out for their own reasons.

Then there are others, like two ewes I sold before Christmas that I was delighted to see the back of, always stood in my way, or blocking a pen or at some acting that slowed jobs, always the same two!

davidk1394

I look after the pet lambs on our farm... and after all the work I put into them wwith bedding feeding and dosing im glad to see the back of them.. and the cheque at the end is an added bonus

kerry4sam

^^^ Thanks so much for your replies

Twas Lovely to red those replies so twas,

Cattlepen

I don't mind when their sold to be honest. To me that's like the circle of life and I've done my job. There is a certain amount of pride and satisfaction. I suppose it's the same as doing any job well. It kills me though when any of my animals die. I get genuinely upset. When you work with them every day you get very fond of them. It's almost like they are your companions. This bond seems to be getting stronger the older I get

Buford T. Justice XIX

I have one pet ewe left in the flock. She is an absolute peach in that when i want to bring in the ewes she leads them out the gap and into the holding yard. She gets a handful of nuts each day as she has few teeth left.

Now i know she should be sold because the cost of removing her as a dead ewe far exceeds her value as a cull.

But she has been around so long now looking for a few nuts when i get up every morning in winter and following me around herding, i can't bring myself to do it.

Have a cow the same but they are the only 2 that get special treatment like that.

kerry4sam

awww Thank You Guys for sharing these stories with me!