After I put the girls out in the field this morning, I went back to the yard to begin morning chores. There was a ewe still lying there asleep. Only she wasn’t asleep, she had died. It was Misty. She had put her chin on a log and just died. I was stricken; she has always been one of my favorites. For Tawanda Farms ewes, she was not old, only 7. The last time I had rubbed her cheeks she seemed fine.
Misty was special. As a lamb she befriended a bottle baby. The bottle baby was a trip who had a great mother who had decided 3 was too many to feed. So we fed Vitae. Vitae and Misty became friends. They remained friends until now. When you saw one of them in the yard, the other was not far away. I know that Vitae will wonder what became of her friend.
As a yearling, Misty came to me one morning as I entered the yead, talking and talking. I asked her what the problem was and she led me to a very special ewe who had died overnight. Misty knew Tapestry was special and that I would want to know. I thanked her.
This lambing season Misty gave us a ewe lamb that is beautiful and well built. She weighed 17.5 lbs and looks like a tank. Misty gave birth in the field with no assistance. Quite a feat for such a large lamb. That lamb has maintained a good growth rate and her conformation is just as perfect as it was when she was born. Misty knew that lamb never let her out of her sight. Weaning was hard on both of them, but the lamb has become almost as friendly as Misty was. The lamb has been named Isles.
As I put Misty in her final resting place, I grieved, then got to thinking. Don’t we as humans say, “I just hope I drop in my tracks.” or “I hope I go to sleep and don’t wake up” ? That’s how she went. No distress, no pain or fear. She just died. We have a saying here when we experience this kind of death: “God must have loved him/her to have taken them like that.” It’s hard on those who are left, but it’s a wonderful way to die. God must have loved Misty.
