Author Topic: Worst shepherd ever  (Read 19826 times)

lachlanandmarcus

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #15 on: November 12, 2012, 09:36:18 pm »
The bad sheep keepers are the ones who it wouldnt occur to to soul search after a run of losses.
You are a good shepherd.
 :hug:
 

colliewoman

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Pilton
  • Caution! May spontaneously talk rabbits!
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #16 on: November 12, 2012, 10:05:54 pm »
Thanks guys, It really does mean alot :-* :-*
We'll turn the dust to soil,
Turn the rust of hate back into passion.
It's not water into wine
But it's here, and it's happening.
Massive,
but passive.


Bring the peace back

Blackbird

  • Joined Jul 2012
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #17 on: November 12, 2012, 10:27:51 pm »
So sorry to hear about your losses CW- you obviously care about your animals so much, please don't beat yourself up, you can only do your best for them.
Where are we going - and why am I in this handcart?

Fronhaul

  • Joined Jun 2011
    • Fronhaul Farm
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #18 on: November 12, 2012, 10:52:37 pm »
No no and no you aren't.  I had a cry on the vet's shoulder the other day because I lost a couple of lambs and a ewe and failed to work out what was going wrong until it was too late so you aren't alone.  It is a brutal year and really strange things seem to be happening.  And it is sods law that bad things seem to happen together.

Canadian Sheepfarmer

  • Joined Nov 2009
  • Manitoba, Canada.
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #19 on: November 13, 2012, 01:48:33 am »
You aren't, and you know that you aren't really?
 
Learn from it, that's all we can do. You'll never see it all with sheep.
 
I remember eavetroughing to 2 shearers at a sheepshow who were talking about a lady near here who had just jumped up from 10 sheep to 200. She was turning an enthusiastic hobby into a career overnight.
 
One of them remarked, 'it'll just depend on how many dead sheep she can live with.'
 
I thought that he was being callous and spiteful, but thinking about it afterwards perhaps he was right.
If you keep a lot of animals then statistically you are going to get a bigger incidence of trouble. Having the spirit and confidence to pick yourself up after all of the inevitable trainwrecks is part of being a shepherd.
 
Things happen that would floor the average marshmallow townee git [!] but we keep going.
The flock needs us!
 

Haylo-peapod

  • Joined Mar 2012
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #20 on: November 13, 2012, 09:06:48 am »
....apart from one ewe I had to PTS years ago I have never lost sheep. Now 3 in a few weeks, all unrelated.


First of all  :hug: and  :bouquet: - I'm really sorry to hear of your pain - it is miserable to lose any animal when you care about them so much.


BUT take heed in your own words CW, to me it sounds as though with your love and care you have made a great shepherdess over the years. As other people have already said it has been a lousy year so you really do not need to beat yourself up at all. Shed some tears for your lost babies but then pick yourself up, learn what you can from the experience and carry on doing what you are good at!  :hug:

FiB

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Bala, North Wales
    • Facebook
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #21 on: November 13, 2012, 09:21:19 am »
 :bouquet: :hug:  .  And thanks for sharing - there is learning for novice me in all this.

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #22 on: November 13, 2012, 09:37:03 am »
Bad luck does come in threes, and that's all it is, bad luck.  The worst shepherds are the ones that don't care, and you clearly do care very much.  *hug*

SteveHants

  • Joined Aug 2011
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #23 on: November 13, 2012, 04:08:31 pm »
You aren't, and you know that you aren't really?
 

I remember eavetroughing to 2 shearers at a sheepshow who were talking about a lady near here who had just jumped up from 10 sheep to 200. She was turning an enthusiastic hobby into a career overnight.
 
One of them remarked, 'it'll just depend on how many dead sheep she can live with.'
 


I did this - actually, if you think of it in terms of percentage loss, then I'm doing much better with more sheep simply because with my initial 15 ewes, 1 lamb represented a much greater portion of the lamb crop.


And don't worry, Colliewoman, you aren't a bad shepherd, losses happen, its just part and parcel of stock-keeping.

Shnoowie

  • Joined Mar 2010
  • Cornwall
    • Binty's Farm
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #24 on: November 13, 2012, 04:31:54 pm »
*Big hugs*


downsized

  • Joined Oct 2012
  • Dumfriesshire
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #25 on: November 13, 2012, 04:45:56 pm »
To quote Henry Brewis, one of my all time heros "the more livestock you have the more dead stock you have". Yes it really sucks when you have a 'clusterf*ck' like you've just had, you just have to cut yourself some slack and get over it, it happens to us all. So big  :hug: stop second guessing and doubting yourelf and get on with trying to keep the rest alive ;)

Pedwardine

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • South Lincolnshire
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #26 on: November 13, 2012, 06:06:41 pm »
Take heart at all these kind and sincere words CW. We all have these times when every bloody thing that can go wrong does go wrong. You can only try your best and you so obviously do just that. It is a particularly challenging year this year for so many shepherds. Remy has lost many, I lost eight over a short period. I felt like giving up but after the lovely people on this forum gathered around me I felt able to carry on. We can't control everything. We can only do what we know to do and learn from our mistakes on the things we've somehow missed. BIG BIG sympathy. You aren't the world's worst when you love so much.

Big Benny Shep

  • Joined Mar 2011
  • Skipton
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #27 on: November 13, 2012, 09:40:36 pm »
Sheep are born to die, all you can do is distract them for as long as possible.
This year i lost one of my best tups 4 days before i was going to lose him to the ewes  :'(
At least they had a really nice life before they went   :sheep:
BIG Ben
We have 80(ish) texels and texel x suffolks, 10 lleyns, 21NE Mules, 2 Dexters with calves, Monty the labrador, Dottie, Bracken and Poppy the collies and 30 assorted hens.

downsized

  • Joined Oct 2012
  • Dumfriesshire
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #28 on: November 14, 2012, 01:20:01 pm »
Sheep are born to die, all you can do is distract them for as long as possible.
This year i lost one of my best tups 4 days before i was going to lose him to the ewes  :'(
At least they had a really nice life before they went   :sheep:

has to be a candidate for quote of the year :roflanim:

Polished Arrow

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • Forest of Dean
  • www.cinderhilllfarm.com
    • www.cinderhillfarm.com
Re: Worst shepherd ever
« Reply #29 on: November 15, 2012, 12:34:24 am »
It is so hard to not feel totally responsible when, obviously, we are responsible for our animals' welfare.  But we can't be omnipotent, and misfortune strikes even the most vigilant of shepherds.  It might feel like you are at fault, but really, from what you have said about these three, you are not at fault, and cannot hold yourself responsible for them not surviving.  Hope you feel better soon  :bouquet:
www.cinderhillfarm.com

We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are.
Anais Nin

 

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2025. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS