Arriving at the yard this morning there wasn't a sound. Silence always makes my heart beat a little faster. We are normally greeted with the sheep bleating, the cockerel crowing and the geese shouting..today nothing! A quick scan of the paddock reassured me the sheep were fine, as were the old gander and his mate. Rushing to let the hens out also proved nothing untoward had happened to them overnight, but everyone was very subdued.
It was a beautiful morning, not a breath of wind, the sun was shining and the birds, happy that all was as it should be, were full of song, marking their territory for the coming season. I can only assume the livestock were aware that the other three geese were missing. To say they were in shock would be putting a human slant on things but there was no denying the eerie silence in the yard this morning.
Maybe it was just my imagination.
Yesterday afternoon we dispatched three geese. It always was the plan to rear the youngest for eating, it's just we didn't get around to doing so last Christmas. The older pair, were infertile. The goose had damaged her wing several years ago and ever since it never sat straight, whether this made mating difficult I don't know. The two pairs never got on and always had to live in separate paddocks, this made resting the different areas of grazing awkward, they also ate a tremendous amount of grass and as we had little in return from them it made justifying keeping them impossible. So yesterday was their last day.
A shame, I like geese..... but practical.
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2 comments:
seems like a sensible choice.
are they for eating... or not?
In a way ....as they were quite old rather than spend ages plucking them we just skinned the breast meat and the legs. A surprising amount of meat, so I am now on the look out for slow cook recipes.
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