It is a full and varied life here. Yesterday I received a very large order for cashmere from the United Arab Emirates which will take me a couple of weeks to process, an enquiry about visits here to the farm by groups of Russian tourists and had to take the poor dead body of one of my very favourite old original Cashmeres to the Veterinary Laboratory Agency at Starcross for a routine post mortem for our Scrapie Monitoring Scheme membership.
I shall miss that old lass. She was just known as number 1304/63 – we have too many to give them all proper names but it doesn’t mean we don’t know them as individuals. She was mother to Colly who is now fathering excellent kids in Switzerland so her legacy lives on. She died peacefully of old age (nearly 11 years old) having spent her first 6 years in Scotland. I like to think her last 5 were easier. She and I had some good cuddles during her last moments. She was warm, quiet and peaceful. Not a bad way to go.
I really enjoyed learning, when I interviewed shepherds in Cumbria, how well they knew all the individual animals in massive flocks. I love the tenderness with which you write about your old Cashmere goat and I am delighted that there is demand for Devon Fine Fibres as far as the Arab Emirates!
By: Felicity Ford on January 20, 2012
at 9:46 am
Thanks Felicity! It’s always encouraging when people say such lovely things!
By: devonfinefibres on January 20, 2012
at 12:29 pm