Sad News

This past week we had some unexpected and heartbreaking losses to our family and farm, and have been trying to find the words to share it with you. When we got home from work last Wednesday we found Nova, one of our Shelties, dead in our yard. We can't be sure of exactly what happened, but it looks like some sort of a scuffle broke out between the dogs and she was mortally wounded. From what we can tell it looks like it was very quick for her. We can speculate about exactly what happened, but we'll never truly know.

While still trying to wrap our heads around this, on Saturday morning we found Hunter, our barn cat, had been hit by a car in front of our house. He never had gone out there before as far as we know. We owe our neighbors a special thanks for finding him and helping Kaela care for him in the final moments of his life.

We're still in a bit of shock over all of this. Nova was a sweetheart and a total goofball of a dog. She loved to plop her head on your leg and just stare up at you praying for pets. She would jump on the bed and play wrestle with us while making crazy wookie sounds. She was always the first to alert bark at anything unusual on the farm. Things have been really quiet with her gone. She was also our go-to gal for moving the sheep. Her help on the farm will be sorely missed.

Hunter was the most laid back kitty who loved to be cuddled. He was Gwen's best friend and loved to play with the neighbors and their dogs. Twice a day at milking time, he would dart under the milk stand and wait for his three squirts of milk from each goat.  He also lived up to his name. Before he came to the farm, we had a serious rodent problem. With his help, the rodents around our pens and storage areas have been almost eliminated.

Nova is being cremated and Hunter was buried by the poultry house in a spot where we often found him sleeping on shovels, hay bales, or in pet crates.

Do us a favor and hug your pets, whether they be cats, dogs, goats, or chickens. Here are some of our favorite posts about these two. We miss you both so very, very much.

Nova
http://www.hightailfarms.com/2013/01/the-measure-of-good-farm-dog-nova.html
http://www.hightailfarms.com/2013/02/turkey-is-back-on-menu.html

Hunter
http://www.hightailfarms.com/2012/08/new-hire.html
http://www.hightailfarms.com/2012/09/gwen-and-hunter-bffs-4ever.html
http://www.hightailfarms.com/2013/04/sick-kitty.html