I don't know why this is affecting me so much

phoenix I agree that watching lambs play is one of the pleasures in life. We had a lime heap in the field and they used to love playing "I'm the King of the Castle". I hope it is my imagination but as I watch the lambs in the fields now they don't seem to play nearly as much. A bit like human kids I suppose!

Not strictly relevant but here goes. My son-in-law went out for evening's fishing in his father's boat. They failed to catch any fish but brought home a dead deer. It wasn't road kill; it had fallen off the cliff almost on to the boat. We all benefited from the venison.

Seen some typos and the odd missing word in some of my previous posts, but hope that the meaning is still clear!

Not a veggie - just don't like red meat. I cannot even cook a beefburger for the old man - makes me heave. But a nice bit of turkey or salmon - now that's more like it!

LOL. Just think if we were all vegetarians (I'm not saying you are vegetarian) there would not be any livestock in our fields, how boring.

I grovel before you with gratitude!

You can thank those of us that like lamb for there being lambs to look at.

Lamb - yuk! Horrid greasy meat - never touch it (or beef or pork come to that). So I can look the lambs in the field by us in the eye with a clear conscience!

Roadkill - no point in wasting good food, pheasants are fine, not usually that badly damaged and fresh enough if found early morning. I draw the line at deer as I don't know how long they have been there and butchering them needs some know how. They need to be properly bled out or the meat won't taste good.

rose I think you have it about right re. the one in charge! I still to this day that I was so blessed and fortunate to enjoy those times.

Of course, I only occasionally had a quick glance as I was busy working

My office used to overlook a field of sheep and we used to watch the lambs racing down the side of the hedge - there always seemed to be a bigger one in charge who seemed to say 'ready, steady, go' and then belt hell for leather down the course and beat them all!

Just to add, although I was of course sad to see the lambs loaded and off, it is the way of things. I knew that my lambs had received the best of everything, and had led a happy, if short life.

And then my beloved ewes had a bit of down time before the next tupping in November.

I still believe VERY strongly that it is the quality of life that matters (and should be paramount with every farmer, stockman, haulier and even abattoir worker) rather than the quantity of life.

I could bang on about this as nauseum, I have seen people think that they were doing the right thing and "saving" a lamb from slaughter, only to end up with an unhappy (and possibly unhealthy) animal because they had no idea about dipping, worming, dagging and foot trimming.

Nice memory Phoenix.

One of my great pleasures in life was watching the lambs play! They seemed to wait until their mothers were eating the feed that was so very difficult to get in the trough! (A bit like an ovine rodeo, I was often carried away by a ewe thinking she would take a short cut between my legs!

Once their mums were happily munching, the lambs would gather in a bunch and run hell for leather alongside of the hedge, giving the odd leap as they ran. The problems arose when the slower lambs were met head on by the bigger/faster ones that had already reached the end of the race course and had turned round and were heading back the other way!

Such happy memories, sitting there in the early evening April sunshine, with either a glass of wine or a mug of coffee. It was definitely MY time, I would make every excuse to prevent the then DH from joining me.

We are having lamb at Easter, but I must admit the first time we bought lamb direct from the farm in Devon for the freezer, I could not eat it. Seeing them skipping around in the fields as we drove up the lane put me right off.

Jaxie I used to farm sheep, albeit in a small way (50 head of ewes).

I was extremely fussy about the end the lambs met. We would have orders from friends for meat. I would load the lambs myself, and insist that they were the first killing batch of the day, minimising the stress, which can make meat tougher than it might be. (Stess produces adrenaline, which goes to the "flight" muscles and can affect the meat)

I was proud to be able to offer meat that had come from animals who had been well treated and lived as stress free as possible.

Distinctly bird-brained

Nellie apparently/allegedly pheasants have tunnel vision, but heaven knows who worked that one out!

Yes, I agree they do seem prone to very daft behaviour!

We had an enormous badger sett on the farm, you could sit and watch them, in exchange for peanut butter sandwiches!

Hilda, I wonder what it was?An escaped kangaroo? something that wasn't really dead, and took itself off.I have only seen dead badgers, never a live one, think you need to hang about in woods at night to see them, sadly I see them all the time on the side of the road.

Yes that's right Loopy about the next person being able to take the carcass. I'm sure if I was in that position I would take the deer home for food, otherwise it is a waste.

On the way home from work one morning I saw a dead kangaroo in the middle of the road, at least it looked like a kangaroo. It must have been a deer though, as we don't have kangaroos in Northumberland! On the way back to work in the evening I looked out for it but it was gone.
We also get a few badgers killed around here. It's a shame, as I have never seen a live one.

With the spread of red kites, there will be plenty of demand for carrion, though I think they do pick off small prey too.

In Japan, most of the road kill are snakes.