As My Flock Ages

It's not really unexpected that this will happen.
And it never, ever gets any easier.

Earlier this week, we said good-bye to
Cherrington Elizabeth - born May 20, 1996.
She quietly passed away in her sleep. She had been slowly getting thinner, and this last few weeks - really didn't want to eat. We tried just about everything, but she just wasn't interested.

As a consolation - the day before she died - she went outside and spent a glorious afternoon in the autumn sunshine - she was still quite agile - although very arthritic. I was a bit surprised to
find her dead the next morning - as I was hoping she was going to rebound for us.

At right is a picture of her taken a few year ago (she was terrible for diving head first into the hay).

Bess (as she was fondly called) was one of my first
three original sheep that I got when I started into shetlands way back in 1996. Her sire was Skerryvore Corby, and her Dam was Cherrington Queen Mary.

She was one of those lovely Cherringtons - one of the earliest flocks of Shetlands in Ontario.
And true to the Cherrington Black sheep - even at 13 years old - she still didn't have a white hair on her body. Her fleece wasn't quite as soft as her mothers - but it was still quite soft and crimpy. We are certainly going to miss her in our flock.

At this time, my next oldest sheep are now Kalwa Taure Beatrice and my last Cherrington - Little Dog- who was born in 2000.

Although I've been raising shetlands now for 13 years - it never gets any easier when we have
to say good-bye to one of our beloved flock.

Hopefully my next post will be a bit more cheerful.