Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2021/06/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]an exquisite tale I am glad to have missed first hand;^) Ric > On Jun 6, 2021, at 8:03 PM, Douglas Barry <imra at iol.ie> wrote: > > Philippe, ahhh sheep! Those photos make the memories just flood back. Like > Yorick, I knew them well. > > When I was ten years of age, my Dad bought a small farm (8 hectares) with > its own beach down in West Cork as a holiday home. Sounds idyllic doesn't > it, but the only problem was it was over 370 kilometres away from Dublin > over winding, bumpy, dangerous, pre-EU subsidised roads and, with a > restoration job needed on the 1850 farmhouse, we were up and down like a > jockey's bollocks. When the house was restored, he got the bright idea > that it might as well wash its own face, decided to rent it out when we > weren't there, and to make any trip more efficient, also decided to put > six caravans (mobile homes) in the field beside the house, and rent them > out as holiday lets as well. > > He, like you and your mates, discovered pretty rapidly that grass and > other vegetation grows very quickly, and needs constant maintenance, so > decided that animals were the solution. He bought a small herd of > bullocks, and after the first year discovered that many of our tenants > (mainly from UK cities) were cowering and whimpering in fear in the > caravans from the size of the huge udderless bovines that roamed outside > their fragile quarters, freely defecating and decorating the adjoining > landscape with their runny ordures. Most of the holidaymakers, used to > only animals the size of a large dog at best, thought that they were bulls > and were terrified. After an end of season rethink, the bullocks were > trailered away to market tout suite. > > We got 20 sheep instead as they cropped the grass significantly lower, had > way smaller and more solidly formed ordures, and certainly wouldn't scare > the punters away. They were hardy looking Blackface and my Dad thought > that would be that. Well it wasn't. I could write a small book on the > various diseases that the things got. It didn't help that the local small > farmer (LSF) that we got to move them from one rotated pasture to the > other, hadn't a clue about sheep and their diseases. Boy, do they have a > lot of diseases. I became an expert in the damn things, foot rot, fly > strike, liver fluke, etc., not to mention the additional joys of dipping > them, neutering them, docking their tails, and shearing them. > > Of course, the sheep had the annoying habit of dying at very inconvenient > times and their bodies being discovered in strange places. I remember at > one stage when I was fifteen or sixteen, a woman holidaymaker rushing up > from the beach to my father and me, crying out, "Mr. Barry, Mr. Barry, one > of your sheep is caught in the quicksand - and it's now dead!!" Having > calmed the distressed woman down, but bewildered by the description of > quicksand, we went down to the beach and found a dead decaying sheep with > its head buried in the all too solid sand. It was one of ours. My Dad sent > me back up for a shovel, and standing back when I returned, told me to dig > its head out. I did so and discovered a large rock placed on top of the > head. > > Apparently the sheep had died a week or so before, and our LSF had buried > it in the beach sand. He must have though that sheep flesh was > incorruptible, but hadn't reckoned with the tide, and buried it below high > water mark. The tide did as it does, coming in and out twice a day, the > body putrefied, bloated with gas, and pushed its way to the surface. > Realising what had happened, my father turned to me and said "Douglas, > drag it up to the foreshore well above high tide and bury it in a hole > with at least a metre of earth on top of it, and do it this evening, so > that no one knows it's there." > > Well you don't argue with a former boxing champion, so that evening, I had > to do it. The grave digging wasn't the problem, but dragging a > disintegrating rotting heavy sheep the 40 metres up to higher ground was > nauseating, especially as the head separated from the body close to the > grave and the stench got even worse. It may have been the worse job I ever > had, but certainly cured me of the urge to murder anyone as I couldn't go > through with the disposal of another body...:-) > > Here's a photo of me with my brothers and father down there in 1965 > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/DouglasBray/Videos/a/b/c/Old+Voigtlander+pics/Family+and+JLB+at+gate+Summer+1965.jpg.html > > > Douglas > > > > On 06/06/2021 10:32, Philippe via LUG wrote: >> Background of the photos : I live in a village built around a medieval >> castle and its fortifications. Regularly clearing up its glacis from >> trees and bramble to preserve the site and sights is time, sweat, and >> money consuming to say the least. >> So some friends and I have had the project of using sheep as cheap >> cleaners but this required an initial clean up, and electric fences in >> the downhill parts.That?s what we?ve been kept busy doing over the last >> months. >> >> It all started in the late fall >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Phileica/Playground/2021-+Moutons+du+Glacis-6341.jpg.html >> >> The mighty team at the end of the first day. >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Phileica/Playground/2021-+Moutons+du+Glacis-6350.jpg.html >> >> >> Finally, yesterday was ? Inauguration Day ?, and the first four sheep >> were released. I might now find more time for photography as a result :-) >> >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Phileica/Playground/2021-+Moutons+du+Glacis-6.jpg.html >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Phileica/Playground/2021-+Moutons+du+Glacis-7.jpg.html >> >> >> The masterminds of Operation Sheep and, in his shorts, the shepherd who >> selected the sheep for their ability to live in these conditions. >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Phileica/Playground/2021-+Moutons+du+Glacis-22.jpg.html >> >> >> Amities >> >> Philippe, still on jab one only ... >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information