life and death on the farm.

This has been kind of a rough week because we had a couple of animal deaths on the farm; death is a very real part of farm life, and, in a way, it’s been a really important learning experience for me. The first to go was one of our chocolate turkey poults; after days of refusing to eat, it had grown so weak that it couldn’t hold it’s body up anymore, so we decided to euthanize it rather than have it suffer any longer. Even though there was nothing we could have done to get it to eat, I still felt responsible for it’s death, which made it particularly difficult for me to accept.

A few days later a similar problem was spotted with one of the goat kids who appeared to be sleeping all the time and never eating. After a couple of days like this we tried bottle-feeding her, but she started having seizures and passed on shortly after. It’s really amazing to watch nature run its course through life and death. As humans we evade the natural course of our lives and cheat death time after time, but it just doesn’t work like that in nature; nature won’t let live what isn’t meant to live and that’s that. 

And, to be honest, one death in an entire herd of goat kids and in a whole clutch of turkeys isn't really that big of a deal. Some deaths are to be expected, and the vast majority of the babies are doing great. So far twenty of our goats have had their kids, and the barn looks like a nursery with all the kids bouncing around.

At just over a week old, the turkey poults are already getting their feathers and attempting to fly! It's amazing how quickly they grow!

Frederic is still alive too! And his eye is starting to open up slightly, so maybe he'll make it after all!