The Ones I Miss

Relationships with farm animals is different from those with domesticated animals for the most part.  I suppose some farmers get really close to a hog or goose or sheep or goat they have had for a long while but it is probably still not like the relationship they have with their trusted dog.

Little Mama died yesterday and I know I am going to miss her.  She is the only hen on the farm that has ever hatched out a baby chick and she hatched 4 beautiful babes.  I don't know if I felt closer to her because she was here so long or because she was a mother and had that motherly settledness about her.  She was a bantam chicken so she was quite small and this years chicks are 3 times her size.  Bantams are know for going broody.  Her chicks were apparently from Black's eggs that she sat on besides her own.  I wonder though, if they will go broody as they get older because they were raised so wonderfully by Little Mama.

I miss Hildegard, the first sheep to come here with her lamb Amelia.  I miss Beau, the first llama, who was quite a character.  I remember how he loved all the lambs when they were born and made sure they were cared for.  I miss Mary, one of Hildegard's lambs.  When she was sick, she used to come to me to see what I was going to give her that day.  She loved for me to sing to her.  We have been fortunate not to lose too many animals, except for chickens that don't live too long a life if they are free range.

With all the hurricane tragedies lately, I have thought about the animals that have been lost.  You don't here about the farm animals but I am sure there must have been many.  I can't imagine how hard it would be to leave your animal friends behind.

Here is a picture of Little Mama with Donald and Black.  She certainly was a sweetheart and I will miss her.