Search Bar
Billy Joe's Food Farm - ᵀʰᵉʳᵉ ᶦˢ ᶠʳᵉᵉᵈᵒᵐ ᶦᶰ ᵃ ˢᵉᵉᵈ⋅™
  • Food Farm Blog
  • Kid's Blog
  • Home
  • FOR SALE
  • Our Animals
  • Photos From Around the Farm
  • Resources and Websites
  • French Lop Rabbits
    • Rabbits For Sale >
      • Bucks
      • Does
    • Raising Kits: Birth to Weanlings
  • Pet Page
    • Up For Adoption
  • Goats
    • For Sale

Today I Am Happy, We Have Three Healthy Bunnies

2/9/2013

4 Comments

 
I admit I was hesitant to go check our three remaining baby rabbits this morning, afraid they would have been dragged beyond the nest and left.  After the morning I had yesterday, gathering the little dead ones, this morning was a happy one. 

Three healthy little bunnies, and mama seems to be taking good care of them.  These are their first photos, although the color isn't great because of the heat lamp.  I wanted to get these done quickly so as not to disturb mama and babies too much, so that you all could see the newest members of the farm.



Picture
Picture
4 Comments

Guilt Over Lives Not Saved, the Downside Of Homesteading

2/8/2013

8 Comments

 
Picture







As someone who has always done what I can to help the innocent creatures of this world, not being able to save a life might be the most difficult part of this homesteading lifestyle that I have chosen.

When I was a kid, I remember visiting a pig farm in Oklahoma.  The place wasn't very well kept, and I was shocked at the conditions in which those pigs lived.  As we toured the facilities, the farmer was gathering up the dead piglets, which he apparently would do every morning.  He had a bonfire going, and was just chucking the little bodies into the fire without a care in the world.  I was horrified, and that memory has stayed with me through the years. 

Couldn't that farmer have done something differently to improve the conditions?  Shouldn't he at least have been less cavalier about the deaths of his livestock?

Fast forward thirty years, and here I am with my own farm, responsible for the animals I have chosen to bring here, even more so for the new lives that are created.  I do not take bringing new life into this world lightly.  I don't see my animals are purely profit, and I don't measure their lives in dollars.  I see myself as their caretaker, for better or worse.

On some days, the "worse" part of that phrase is just difficult to take without drowning in guilt over those creatures who might have lived if I had done things differently.

I haven't lost very many animals since choosing to travel the homesteading road, but those that I have lost stick with me.  Unfortunately when dealing with the care of animals, learning how best to do so sometimes costs an animal it's life.

Sometime in the night, our French Lop rabbit gave birth to six babies.  By this morning, three of them were not in the nest and had died from the cold.  When my husband found them, there were three scattered randomly across the floor that were cold, and were not moving.  I picked them up, wrapped them in a towel and tried rubbing their little bodies while holding them under a light to warm them up.  No response.  I ran them into the house where it was warmer and tried everything I could, but they were gone.

I can't help but feel responsible, and guilty, for their short lives that were filled with suffering.  I was worried about this doe having her first litter in February for this exact reason, but because of her age she needed to be bred.  I could have brought her inside to watch her more closely.  She shouldn't have had as much room as she did.  I should have checked on her more often, and sooner.  On and on I go, knowing that things like this happen on a farm, but regretting that it happened on my watch.

And so, today I will be sad about the three that didn't make it, and tomorrow I will be happy about the three that did.  I have learned some lessons, and while I am glad to gain the experience, it just breaks my heart that those lessons have so high a price.




8 Comments
Forward>>

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    If you like our blog and would like to help support what we do, please feel free to donate any amount to help keep us going!  Our goal is to use this blog to help care for the animals.  We will let you know how your donations are used.  Thank you!
    Billy Joe's Food Farm
    Organic herbs, spices, teas and oils.
    The Enclyclopedia of Country Living is one of THE best homesteading books I have ever purchased, and I still refer to it often.

    RSS Feed

    Author

    We are city folk who decided to move our family to the country, to experience life the way it ought to be lived...OUTSIDE! 

    Categories

    All
    Butchering
    Chickens
    Ducks
    Food As Medicine/Herbal Medicine
    Food Security
    Gardening
    Gmo
    Goats
    Heirloom Seeds
    Herbal Resources
    Homesteading
    Rabbits
    Self Reliance
    Sheep

    Archives

    February 2014
    November 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Shop Amazon's Kindle Accessories Store
    Search & Win

Billy Joe's Food Farm 

  Raising sheep, goats, chickens, guineas, ducks, dogs, cats, and gardens since 2010.  Oh, and not eating anything but plants and fish.  Welcome!

    Contact Us

Submit
Proudly powered by Weebly