It Moooo-st Be Done

You deserve to be loved and cared for. You are worthy of others’ time and tending.

— Petey

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Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm

Tomorrow is sheep and cattle shot day. This is my least favorite activity because it’s stressful for everyone. First thing in the morning, I’ll work to get the flerd into my working chute. This is a trick, because critters have long memories, and they know exactly what happens in that blue squeeze chute.

If you’ve never seen a cattle working setup, it’s a series of pens that eventually funnels cattle into a contraption called a squeeze chute. Essentially a big metal box with a whole bunch of levers to move bits around, the chute allows you to immobilize 1600 pounds of stressed-out cow, but it does it in a way that basically gives the cow a giant, calming hug. It’s the safest way to deliver vet care to a cow, and research says it’s the least stressful method—but least stressful is a far cry from stress-free.

We’ll work with the sheep first, trimming their hooves and giving them their annual vaccines.

Longtime readers will remember that the sheep thwarted my efforts to trim their hooves this spring, so they’ll likely need extra attention. Then we’ll get the cows squared away. Hopefully, we’ll be done before the heat sets in for the day, and I will breathe a giant sigh of relief that that chore is done for the year. Wish me luck!

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Here’s What I Loved This Week

This NPR essay about the Luke Combs cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” articulated a lot of the things I was feeling but couldn’t quite form into coherent thoughts. I am glad Combs kept “checkout girl” in the song and didn’t change the gender. In this moment of extreme gender binary handwringing by so many people, I liked that he was like, nah, doesn’t bother me at all to sing this from a woman’s perspective. Chapman’s version is still better, but I like this one too.