Farming and Forever homes..

I heard my Dh say to Brandy after his ride yesterday, good girl, keep it up, after all this is to be your forever home..

Where did that term come from, it popped up in the late 90’s, I remember adopting my wonderful purrpot from the shelter down in alberta (can you believe she is still going strong at 15 years right now)and the the staff who handed her to me, said to her.. lucky girl.. going to your forver home..

At the time, I thought it was a odd statement, given that this was a rural small shelter that had a special on for the cats in need of adoption if you were a rural owner, and yes she was given to me with shots but unspayed.

There is a bit of background, you see my wonderful kitty who was a indoor/outdoor girl, indoor only when I left the house for work, had bolted out on the small rural rental I was in and while I tried to get her back, I needed to get to work and it was the last I saw of her..

I had put her photo up on the board at the local shelter, I had dropped in on all the farms around with photos in hand and had walked the fields and woods for any sign of her for days that turned into weeks, after a number of months, they asked me to come in and take her lost poster and photos down, and they “surprised” me with a cat they had picked for me that they said seemed like her in temperment, and coat length but different color/markings.

Still not sure what made me say yes to look at her but she was a sad thing, in need of some TLC and a good brushing, she was sulky and sad, and still I said yes, I swear it took at least two years of bonding to get her to be a purring/patting cat, and now she is one of the most in your face cats you can get..

The next time I heard it was again when I adopted my wonderful pup from a NWT Shelter, I took one look and fell head over heals with her, and the staff let me have her, with the comment that they knew that I would be a wonderful forever home, trust me this statement has come back to haunt my wonderful girl, like when I tried to crate train her and she broke her teeth (requiring vet care) on the wires, like when I forgot that she was still sleeping in the one bedroom before I went out to do chores and she at ruined a door and doorframe by the time I got back, like the time my folks babysat her and she eat right thought a hollow bedroom door, and then jumped up and locked the door on my folks, who had to climb though a window to break back into their own house LOL

Its a interesting thought, foerver home, it means from the time you accept their care, that you will provide all the needed requirements for them to thrive, food, water, shelter, and ideally that you have a working caring bond with them, that allows for a mutual feeling of affection.

But how does that work in regards to farm animals, lets first look at birds, because they have a much shorter life time frame, so lets say that you are raising birds for the freezer, if you are trying to push the growth as fast as possable, they could be with you as little as four to six months, in whic h case you are not really giving them that much of a different life then the birds you can get in the store in most cases, perhaps with better access to fresh air and sunshine.

But lets say that you want to have pasture raised birds that have been allowed to express their chickenness while still taking the the responable actions of making sure they are safe from natural preditors.. in that case, what is the needs of their lives, fresh water, fresh healthy non-medicated feed, outdoor access, fresh air, sunshine, access to greens/bugs, and at least for me, I don’t think birds can truly be happy without the ability to bath, be that water for the ducks or be that dust baths for the chickens.

Now clearly if they are raised like this and then calmly and quietly caught and correctly butchered, they have lived as stressless of a life as possable from start to finish, but have you in fact meet that “working caring bond with them”  As I watched the whole flock of chickens, ducks, and turkey’s who had been enjoying outside yard time stalk DH at evening chore time, till he laughed and went and got their evening supper and whistled them in, given that you can pet a good number of our birds, despite their planned ending, I do think its safe to say that they veiw us as a postive part of their lives

What about the four footed critters, to be honest we have a harder time with them being planned for freezer camp then we do for the fowl, which is part of the reason that we don’t do much home self butcher on them, while it has been done and I know how, I perfer to send them to the small local butcher to be done, even if its for our own personal use.

There is just a touch to much awareness when they look at me and the butcher is used to me crying while I say goodbye, poor guys always look a bit uncomfortable while the tears run, but I can’t help feeling sad when I send them and perhaps even a touch guility that I could make the choice to not eat meat, but I like meat, and I would raither know that the meat I am eating came from a animal that was cared for properly from the day it was born to the day it died.

It helps greatly if I can have the time to say my prayers of thanks, as I believe in souls and or devine energy, and when death comes that spark floats away and it leaves you with nothing but the body, I always feel the need to thank them for the time spent with us, and to bless them and send them back.

With Fall having arrived, I am trying hard to look at my lambs with a eye and telling my mind over and over again.. Almost time.. prepare yourself..

Did I in fact provide them with a forever home, they were born in our barn, in some cases, I help with their births saving their lives, that big wonderful boy that I am looking at, needed help being pulled for the safety of his momma and also to get him out, it was touch and go, and I had to help him start breathing.. He got his extra baby coat to help keep warm, he has never been without, he has milk/water, feed, hay, pasture, shelter of his choosing, a barn, or shade under the big shelter tree’s, and when the day comes, I will pay to have them driven carefully by themselves so that they don’t have the stress of strangers in the same loads (and yes I have to pay extra for that right) and they will not go a day early and sit there, my guys go in that morning and are booked far enough in advance that they are the first one’s done.

I meet all their needs, I had them from the beginning of their life to the end of it, and I did my best to allow them to live as natural of a life as possable that a small farm can provide for them..

So let me ask you, while clearly with pet animals a forever home means that they will be with the owner for life.. can the same thing be applied to farm animals?