davidfcooper

An email from my friend Chris, a single woman & sheep farmer:

I had a harrowing week where I was given a heads-up by the animal control officer that someone had made a complaint about my sheep, and the town hall had jumped on it and called in the SPCA and was planning on sending a dozen thugs, camera crew and multiple marked vans to my place to raid it. She intervened and told them that first, these were farm animals and not pets, and second, she knew me and would do the inspection herself - cameras and all. So she called me to tell me to fix the place up before she came over with a camera. She ended up never coming over.

I was confused then angry, then furious! My sheep receive lots of attention, veterinary care and are participating in two expensive and voluntary health certification programs as breeding stock. My dogs had just come back from a check-up with the vet who was her professor when she went to Cornell. The housing for my sheep exceeds that of the huge flock at the instructional farm at Cornell University. The legislation they cited was for pet-dealers, not livestock. They were totally out of line!

To be honest, I use some stock panels in one corner to keep the neighbor's grand-toddlers from running into the electric fence, and from the road, people might not see the electric polywire (it is difficult to see from a distance) and think they are confined in that corner-- but the sheep have a huge pen to roam in and choose to lay down and chew their cud in that corner (probably because the hay is in that corner, as well as kids who may come over to feed or scritch their faces). People who just glanced this way without bothering to really look, or to ask me about the sheep, might not realize this. PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS!

On further thought, the animal control officer thought it was strange that they let a neighbor get away with major building violations for over two years but jumped right on me because of a complaint. And the complaint was filed right after this same evil man ripped out my fence post and stole it, which I filed a complaint about (unfortunately, at the time the state troopers were in Louisiana, so I had to deal with a deputy sheriff -- and the evil neighbor's business partner is a retired sheriff's department employee and this deputy would not let me state that the evil neighbor, by name, stole my fence post).

Anyway never did have that inspection. Woolies are fat and sassy. My dairy-farmer friends picked up my order of stockpanels from the Tractor Supply Store and I put up a little more fencing and am reinforcing some areas that seem to get vandalized or broken a lot.

A friend who used to own a farm a few miles from here, in the next county, told me that when she lived alone she got harassed by a bad neighbor and when she complained to the local justice, he told her she was just an "uppity woman" and ought to get herself a man. Women are expected to be married with a housefull of kids to take care of, or unmarried with a bunch of boyfriends and kids on welfare to keep them occupied. Actually, when she bought her own house, people kept asking her who bought the house for her, and she kept telling them, no, she bought it herself and they KEPT asking her, no, who bought it for her??? GRRR.

I don't know if this makes any sense to city people or guys, but outside of the big cities, America is still a third-world country and women don't have much in the way of rights.

Anyway, I have been pre-applying to adopt some big, gentle, senior female dogs (female, because my two largest dogs now are male, so there is less likely to be a fight-to-the-death amongst the dogs if they are not the same sex -- yes, dogs are sexist too! LOL!). Since everything is cleared up about animal health and well-being, only finances keep me from picking up the new dog or dogs.

I just paid off my electrician, am having my car brakes fixed, and need to scrap together some gas-money and be prepared for well-dog-check-ups for the dog or dogs.

One shelter was so impressed with my references and paperwork on my critters, the manager told me that they would not charge me the adoption fee if I would take Gretchen, an older livestock-guardian mix, home with me. I just need to put together gas money and see if I have the energy to drive for three or four hours round-trip by myself (difficult for me as my nerve-pain and spasms can be exhausting) or get someone to share driving with me. Another dog, Bella, is in the Catskills and a friend who is familiar with that area will be driving me up to meet her in about two weeks.

These dogs are pussycats, as dogs go, but on the large size, and imposing to look at. They are larege and SENIOR, which makes them much lower energy than the typical dog. Should be nice to add to my family here. Will be a blast taking them to the vets! Last Thursday I put Coco (9 lb poodle) in her crate on the front seat, Thor (75 lb livestock guardian dog) in his seatbelt in the backseat and Summer (42 lb border collie) next to Thor on his best behavior behind Coco and drove 25 miles to the vet I like best (former professor at Cornell vet school). I have more seatbelts -- should be interesting fitting two more large dogs into a compact car! Obviously I need to get a pickup truck with acab in back.

Was thinking of having signs made saying "Beware of Sheep" . . . am now thinking of "Beware of Sheep and Uppity Woman". LOL!

Chris, homesteading one step at a time, in Oswego County