Tomorrow, October 1, is Wildcard’s big day. We will put him out in the pasture for two months to “do his thang”. “His thang” being to get the ewes pregnant and ready to lamb in the spring when cold weather has passed.

Last fall, when we put Wildcard out with the ewes, he was just 10 months old. We weren’t sure if he knew what to do, but we need not have worried. When we contacted the people we sold our ewes to, they all had at least twins, healthy and beautiful.

So we didn’t have any lambs born on our farm last spring since we sold all our ewes.:( But we could have around 30 lambs this coming spring. I hope so. I missed them. Having lambs born is the best thing to happen on our farm. They are beyond adorable, with their pink noses and mouths and their soft hair. I fall in love with each new one that’s born.

This fall, we’re sure Wildcard knows what to do. He’s already been playing “kissy-mouth” with some of the ewes through the fence. We’re looking forward next Match and April to watching little lambs run and leap in the air. I’ll keep you posted.

We are sliding-slowly-into the Fall season of the year where we live. We are experiencing cooler temperatures and more rain, which our gardens are lapping up thirstily. Chestnuts and acorns are falling to the ground; more squirrels can be seen bustling around (to the delight of my  Border Collie).. Leaves are beginning to fall off the trees, too; and if you look closely, some of the leaves are just beginning to change colors.

In the Ozark Mountains where we live, Fall brings a glorious display of color on the trees. The orange, red, yellow and purple leaves stop you in your tracks, “oohing” and “aahing”; awed by the spectacular beauty of God’s creation.

This past week, on a cool and crisp and sunny day, the sheep could be seen running down the barnyard and leaping in the air, as only sheep can do, four legs straight up. On another beautiful day, the alpacas could be seen running and leaping in the air. Now that’s something to see.

The cool weather had the animals feeling frisky. Me, too. If you come by the farm in the next week or two, you just might see me joining the sheep and alpacas, leaping in the air, joyous that fall is here.

Bill and I do everything we can to insure that our animals are well cared for. But, sometimes. no matter how careful you are, stuff happens and an animal gets sick or injured, or worse, dies. We have a pretty good track record. We’ve only had one tiny lamb, one triplet pygmy goat, and one cria (baby alpaca)  die on our farm.

Until this week. This week, our vet had to put down one of our healthy, beautiful ewes. She had a broken neck, of all things. We have no idea how that happened. We take these losses pretty hard; it makes our hearts hurt. This is the first time we’ve had to make the decision to put one down, but there was really no decision. We didn’t want her to suffer and knew It was the right thing to do.

Such is life on an animal farm. We try not to dwell on the losses. Instead, we thank God for every healthy animal He has blessed us with. We are looking forward to a new birthing season next spring. That’s the way of life. Some die and some are birthed to new life. Halleluha! Can’t wait until spring.