Occasionally rural living is filled with surprises of the good and bad variety.
The day the courier service arrived at the gate with my incubator is still fresh in my mind. The joy and excitement of new life to come was infectious. The opposite kind of surprise is death.
On any farm death is inevitable, but nothing prepares you for the emotional roller-coaster you face when it does happen. It makes no sense when a living, breathing animal that you lovingly tended takes its last breath and dies.
It’s entirely heartbreaking but a reality none the less. My sad but significant day started like every other day. There were chickens to feed, cows to check on and several chores to take care of. Chocolate, the jersey cow had three day sickness. Possibly it was because my focus was on her that I didn’t notice Daisy, the Swiss brown looking off colour. I returned in the afternoon for the rounds again and Daisy has passed away. Broken-hearted and stunned I searched for an answer. Was it a snake bite, a noxious weed, worms, or perhaps just milk fever?
That day I discovered a new understanding of loss that goes on sometimes on a homestead. The price we pay for the enjoyment we experience with our animals is the sorrow we eventually feel when we say goodbye.
Life continues though and I still believe the sheer joy outweighs the sadness we may feel in the end. By Tracey Brussow.
