I have written previously of the ups and downs of lambing, and that the high points begin when you are able to save the life of a ewe and lamb, and the low points occur when, despite doing everything you can or calling in the vet, you are unable to save an animal in need! It is as well at such times to remember the old saying, “If you have livestock you have deadstock.” Which somehow amongst rural folk, I sense is a truth embedded in their daily approach to life’s vicissitudes.
Country folk will always try their best when caring for farm animals which, as I mentioned last month, are just one group of creatures forming the chain of life up from the single celled amoeba to homo-sapiens. Every organism in that chain is essential to the well-being (and the digestive system) of the ones immediately surrounding it. The one above eats the one below, and the one below eats the one below it. There are even specialist creatures which eat the droppings and carcasses of others and so without livestock in fields, even the future of the humble dung beetle is threatened.
The droppings of the dung beetle provide the live bacteria in soil with the nitrogen obtained from the intestinal linings of the cow or sheep, in addition the beetle is a favourite treat for foxes, badgers and crows and, although we don’t speculate as to how nematodes ‘feel’ about things, we do know that they too get minerals from beetle droppings.
Talking of soil, reminds me of the radio’s Question Time panellist of yesteryear Dorset Farmer Ralph Wightman. Ralph, who lived in Piddletrenthide, would often preface his reply to a question with, “The answer lies in the soil.” And so my hope is that those folk on today’s Question Time who witter on about a sustainable future realise that every living (and dead) creature and plant has its place and its use in the cycle of life, and that all organisms eventually go back to the soil in their mineral form. No wonder early writers so often referred to the cycle of life.
Talking of which; the mixture of snow and cold we all expect in a winter cycle, seemed to come as a shock to the media. Because weather forecasting is more accurate than it once was, I am surprised that as soon as the first snowflake hits the pavement the media goes into overdrive. It fills our screens with earnest experts eager to bring us the benefit of their wisdom of wintery matters. “Do not leave the safety of your home” is the usual opening gambit, closely followed by, “But if you really-really have to go out, stay hydrated, wear a woolly hat and scarf and take great care. How nice to contrast their hype, with the stoicism of the ordinary folk stuck in motorway queues.
However, these few days of snow did make me think of the time when we lived in Missouri and winter temperatures sank to minus 30 for weeks on end. But truth be told, even those memories did not make it any easier to muffle-up and trudge up the headland to check the sheep eight or nine times every day. No wonder shepherds in the past had little wheeled huts with a stove and a few supplies to give themselves, and any sickly lamb a bit of warmth. I hope that those folks, who, today rent luxury look-alike huts for summer retreats pay homage to its original purpose.
Actually, lambing is also a good time to once again remind readers to look out for trees with their crowns covered in ivy. Hedera helix is not a parasite, but once it has grown over a trees crown its leaves will prevent the trees leaves photosynthesising sunlight into the sugars which are its summer food and, as it cannot live by its roots alone, it will die. Of course, top heavy ivy can also bring down a tree by acting as a sail during autumn storms. The answer is to cut the ivy vine close to ground.
Finally. I return to the thought that the earth is self-sustaining (at least until the Sun goes out) and that as a result, every living thing needs food from other living things. No organism is exempt from this rule of nature.
As individuals we usually know what we ourselves are thinking, but we do not know what goes through the minds of other creatures. However this does not stop some folks imagining what animals might be thinking, and this was the case last Christmas when a neighbour offered the postman a delicious mince pie. Whilst he ate, he noticed that the Jack Russell did not take its eyes of him and so asked if the dog was hungry?
“Oh don’t you worry about him it’s not that” she replied. “It’s just that you’ve got his plate”
View from the Pew 