Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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lowri
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sad Wednesday morningOne of my Manx Loaghtan ewes, 54, aged 15, didn't weather shearing very well this year. In the last couple of weeks she became very doddery and stiff, and finally simply couldn't get to her feet on Monday. Yesterday I made the grim decision to phone the local slaughterer, no way could I dispatch and bury her, we have 2 inches of topsoil here and then the world sticks out. This morning I find that she has died in the night, surrounded by her four flockmates, it looked like a peaceful passing. Now I wait for the lorry.
Dear 54, she had been with me since a yearling, I bought in a registered flock of 6 in 1993. Her sister Bessie is still with me, also Bambi, the next generation, her daughter Cracker, an enormous mostly-Texel ewe, and an afterthought, Toyah, who is not pure Manx as she has no horns! The originals were only numbers, except for Bessie, who had been hand-reared as her mother, Bonzette, had mastitis and no udder. They came from a friend locally. 54 had given me loads of lambs, always twins, always no trouble!
I shall miss her - and so will her friends.
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Cathryn
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What a shame. Isn't that very old in sheep terms? I just had to look them up, some have six horns! How on earth would they fit and how could they lift their heads?
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pookie
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aw sounds like she was a fine girl 
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lowri
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Every time they are shorn they give the shearers an awful problem, mine have a habit of getting their horns stuck in the shearer's shirt pockets! The wool is dark brown close to the skin, as it grows it fades to various shades of fudge! Lambs are born nearly black, which gave me an awful fright the first year! The fleeces vary, some are excellent for spinning (I'm told), and others too clumpy, but make good felt. Both rams and ewes have horns, when first shorn they look just like goats! Mine are 2-horned - the 6 horned are not that common, I gather. Jacobs sometimes have 4 horns, too.
A friend had a Soay ewe who lived to 17. Mine have lasted well because they live the life of Riley, well-fed and hands-on attention. This can work with brokers (middle-aged ewes with broken teeth), in fact I was advised originally that brokers were ideal for anyone wanting to start with sheep, they can be cheap and appreciate personal attention, one on one, after all what's one broker in a flock of 100? Cats' meat!
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marigold
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Sorry to hear that lowri.
xx.
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Andy B
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Sounds like it had a happy long life, thats a good thing. remember that.
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TAVASCAROW
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Sad news but a grand old age.
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Frewen
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Sorry to hear this 
Didn't she do well though - sounds as if she had a very sucessful sheep life ! ((hug))
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Pel
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sorry to hear the news, sounds like she had a happy live and very lucky old aged ewe.
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