Livestock = Deadstock

Hi, it's Celia again!

If you have livestock, sooner or later you will have deadstock.

When we were little (I mean really little) Mom would bury each animal as it died. She says it's because we were "less reasonable" than we are now. I think that means we cried a lot. And if an animal died over winter, she would put it in the freezer until the ground thawed so she could bury it for us. I remember we had a little white box in the freezer for months that had James' pet mouse and John's pet frog in it, just waiting for spring.

She doesn't do that anymore. Now if an animal dies she carries it deep into the woods and throws it on the ground. She says another animal will get it and eat it. She calls it the circle of life. I think she just doesn't have enough room in the freezer anymore.

Mom used to be very squeamish about picking up dead animals. She used to offer John money to carry them into the woods, but he wouldn't. So she would get a bag and wrap it around her hand, and then use it to pick up the animal. She wouldn't even look at the dead animal as she was carrying it. She's not that way anymore! Now she picks up the animal with her bare hands and examines it to see if she can tell how it died. She really wants to learn how to do chicken autopsies. She says she wants to be the Quincy of hens. I don't know who Quincy is, but she seems to have a lot of respect for him.

Here Mom is carrying a dead chicken to the woods. Sorry if you have a weak stomach!