In all children’s picture books, life on the farm is depicted as just that – LIFE on the farm. Fluffy, clean, golden chicks hatch and follow their mothers everywhere. Spotless, brown calves are found at their mothers’ sides, innocently taking a sip of milk when they need it. Pink piglets tumble over each other on fresh, sweet straw to find an available nipple between 4 or 5 other siblings. Geese and ducks wander on immaculate, green lawns, next to crystal clear, blue ponds with cattails growing at the edges. Flowers are blossoming, bees are buzzing, crops are flourishing, and the sun is ALWAYS shining!!
Well, I don’t want to burst your bubble, but that just isn’t reality. Just like the typical Nativity scene with the literal immaculate Mary and not a smidge of manure to be found, these story books do not depict the truth. With animals come manure and flies. Fowl are named just that: fowl, because that is what they do to every path they take and every bit of lawn or concrete they grace! New born chicks and calves are a wonder, that’s true, but they are sticky, weak and frail. They are prone to predation and sickness, at the bottom of the pecking order, and DON’T stay by their mothers’ sides for protection (or within the fence line, for that matter!) Mama cows clean their new-born, soaking wet calves from head to toe, encouraging them all the while to stand up and drink. They eat the placenta to discourage predators, and even lick their young ones’ behinds to encourage nursing and bowel movements. Mothers on a farm will literally die protecting their young, offering their lives in place of their babies.
It was with a mama hen named Bootie, that suffering and sacrifice tipped the scales of “protecting the young.” Bootie had sat for her typical 21 day incubation/starvation period when the first chick, then another and another arrived. She continued to sit on seven more eggs, while training the three how to catch gnats and spiders and drink water out of her mouth. They would climb all over her, peck her eyes, and fight with each other while she patiently sat and emitted instructional tones.
The seven eggs never hatched. The day after we threw them out, I noticed red, blood-filled mites all around that nesting box. I tried a few different organic suggestions to get rid of them, but nothing worked. Bootie had moved herself and her chicks to the roosting bar, but one chick would not follow. Two days later, that chick lay dead and completely desiccated, covered with red mites in the nesting box. The two chicks who remained under Bootie’s wings lived. A good bleach cleaning and dusting with diatomaceous earth finally did get rid of the mites, but it was too late for Bootie. She died shielding her young, while having the blood sucked out of her.
With much life comes much death.
We knew to some extent, that death would be inevitable when we started farming, but we could not fathom all the different ways it would come. Butchering was a given that we could prepare ourselves to face. Barnyard and hen house fights, neighbor dogs, coyotes, fisher cats, mites, a still-born birth, drownings, hawks and even, the hardest one to deal with, old age – were unpredictable, yet guaranteed.
Death is actually the one and only guarantee this life has to offer.
So the question always comes down to, “How can you prepare for death?” God’s charge to Adam in the garden was to have dominion over the animals. You’re in charge. Don’t let them suffer when maimed or infested. Be kind and let them go in peace, not pieces. You can take care of their lives with secure structures, routine door and gate closures and electric fences, but mistakes happen. I’ve listed a few recommendations at the end of this post that might help you guard against them, and deal with death when it comes. Remember that God is still in control and has lessons planned for you through it all.
The tough part of the “preparing for death” question is when it concerns people. While the scientific classification system lumps us in with mammals and primates, God says that we are made in “Our own image.” The “Our” part is meaning the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No other creature is like that. We are so vastly different from animal and plant life! Our life and death are not so seasonally clocked off , as they are knowledgeably accounted. Do you know where you’ve been, what you’ve done, and to whom you are accountable? Do you know where you will go, who you’ll see, and what will be counted for or against you?
These are important questions to know and ask yourself! They are not even remotely a concern with an animal, are they? A dead animal can be replaced with another, but your life has meaning and purpose. And what is that purpose? Do you know?
The Bible says it is to glorify God. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
It is what Jesus did. He showed us how, through His life and His death – His sacrificial death on the Cross. While animals paint a beautiful picture of this kind of life and death, they are actually pointing to Christ’s example. They point, but they can never fulfill the whole purpose of His sacrifice. Bootie died so that others might live; so did Christ. Bootie patiently and painfully bore the “bringing forth of new life” and taught it; so did Christ. But Bootie died and was buried, where Christ died, was buried, . . . AND ROSE AGAIN to prove that what He says is true. And He says that He paid the price for your sins – the ones you’re accountable for; the ones you committed all your life against God and man; the ones too numerous to count. The fact is, if you’re honest with yourself, that debt you’re accountable for is pretty lofty! It needs to be taken care of before death, and Jesus, who does not lie, says He paid it. Done. Finished. Death has no sting and you KNOW where you’re going.
So, how can you prepare for death?
For you? It’s actually simple. Get to know Jesus.
For animals?
1. Name them meat products like Sir Loin, Filet Mignon (or Minion), Hot Dog, Weiner, and Meatball. There seem to be an endless supply of meat product names. It helps you keep things in perspective every time you pet that cute little brown calf and utter his name in greeting.
2. Don’t name meat chickens – just don’t bother. They’re too stupid and there’s too much unplanned and planned death linked with them.
3. Spring for the portable electric fences for turkey and meat chickens.
4. Keep calves on a 20 foot rope near the electric fence until they learn to respect it. (We make the rope out of braided baling twine so that it’s light- weight, durable, and easy to replace. We braid two metal clasp hooks onto either end.) Once they demonstrate an understanding, take them for a run on the rope around the fence line every day. As they show that they see the wires and shy away from the corners, they can be set free in the pasture.
5. Lock chickens up BEFORE sundown and let them out AFTER sunup.
6. Double check your work if you have had visitors at your farm. We have lost fowl to predators or had cows get out primarily when we got out of routine due to the distractions of guests.
7. Do not let another chicken farmer enter you barnyard with his/her boots on!!! Diseases and parasites (like mites, especially scaly mites) are easily transmitted that way.
8. Do not introduce a new animal to your herd or flocks without completely checking them for disease or infestation.
9. Invest in a sharp hatchet and a .22 caliber rifle. Practice shooting at point blank range.
Scriptures that inspired this post:
Genesis 1:26
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over all the creatures that move along the ground.'”
1 Thessalonians 5:16
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Peter 1:21
“Through Him (Jesus) you believe in God, Who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”
Romans 1:21
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
1 John 2:12
“I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name.”
John 17:4
“I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do”
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
“. . . we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may fulfill every purpose of yours and every act prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him . . .”
Matthew 5:16
” . . . let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
