Anyone who has raised farm animals knows that death comes with the territory. It’s part of life, but it never gets easier. Last week, we lost two newborn pigs, the first pigs we’ve ever lost unexpectedly. As caretakers, we want to give our animals the best chance at a good life. When we don’t get that chance, it’s hard. When they never had the chance at all, it’s even harder.
Our family is no stranger to losing animals. In our first few months of homesteading, we ordered several dozen newly hatched chicks through the mail. Unfortunately, they got delayed during shipping, and a cold snap hit while they were in transit. When the box arrived, the chicks were in terrible shape. We did everything we could to warm them and bring them back to health, but by the next day we had lost all but five or six of them.
The excitement of bringing new life to the homestead turned into one of the hardest days we’ve had here. We learned very quickly that not all animals are going to make it, and some days on the homestead simply won’t be fun.
[Pictured above: Carnita, who lost her little one last week.]
It would be easy, in moments like those, to decide not to get attached and not to care. But our family has chosen the harder and better, path: to care anyway. Caring means accepting that sadness will sometimes be part of the experience. But it also makes us better caretakers and pushes us to give these animals the best lives we can.
Homestead life teaches hard lessons. Sometimes the lesson is learning what we can do differently next time. Sometimes the lesson is realizing that we can’t control everything, that plans fall apart, and that success isn’t guaranteed. Often, it’s a little of both.
Our hope is that each lesson makes us stronger, more capable, and more caring toward the creatures God has placed in our hands. And if you ever find yourself facing a similar moment, look for what you can learn, but don’t beat yourself up when you’ve done the best you knew to do at the time.
