When you’re a livestock farmer, you get pretty comfortable with life and death.
The life part is almost always a ton of fun. It doesn’t get more exciting than watching a litter of piglets be born or seeing a new batch of day-old chicks arrive in the mail. They are fragile and the work can be tiring, but watching animals grow and helping them thrive is one of the greatest joys we experience here on the farm.
Death is the thing nobody ever wants talk about, but is an inevitability on a livestock farm. We are always aware that our animals will die and that their bodies and all the energy within them will go on and nourish our community. Losing an animal before it’s time is difficult, though, and this is where we’ve been this week.
Our boar “Boris” who you might have met at one of our farm tours or seen on our social media had some serious health issues develop, and under the recommendation of our Vet, we had to put him down this week. Burying our boar was difficult and not without conflict, tears and grief. But the experience validated what we’ve always known deep down inside….that as farmers, we have a special bond with our animals and that it’s okay to love them and miss them when they’re gone. While some might see this as a weakness, we think it is one of our greatest strengths.
The deep respect and love we have for our animals serves as a guiding principle on the farm. It helps us do right by the animals every day, even in tough situations like these. We are compassionate, humane livestock farmers. It is who we are, it is what we stand for, and it is part of the legacy we are building here at Stonecrop Farm.
What would the world look like if all farmers cared about their animals this way?
Your farmers,
Greg and Jenney