Life and Death

The second day we went to the Friest farm, we once again witnessed our new-found friends Brent and Jocelyn artificially inseminating pigs. Brent Friest artificially inseminated several pigs, and when he got to the last one he asked if any of us wanted to actually inseminate a pig, rather than watch. I raised my hand immediately, because of my love of animals and anything that involves animals. I thought it would be cool to say "I artificially inseminated a pig!"  So for all of my friends who call me "Princess," I have proof that I can get dirty and do what some consider to be an unpleasant job.

The experience was unique. I have grown up around animals all of my life, and if one things animals can teach you is the true meaning of birth and death. Often people who aren't around livestock, don't understand how quickly birth and death can happen. On a farm you can see something born in one moment and five minutes later see the animal die. I guess people often ask how someone can deal with the birth and death so non-chalantly, but when you experience it on a daily basis, it really just becomes part of your daily life. In reality, birth and death is nothing more then a part of life.

At age 14, I lost my best friend, my show horse. We were partners and had accomplished the unknown to me. I know to some, he is just a horse, but being forced to put him down really put death in perspective for me. He was the first thing I had lost that was truly close to me. Since then I have lost some more horses, some young  and some older. After a while you realize that death is a natural thing and it happens, and you have no choice, but to accept it. In the blink of a eye death can occur, but in the same blink life can spring up. I have seen many baby animals born, ranging from calves, foals, rabbits, cats, and dog. It is such a happy thing, but its necessary to keep in mind that birth is really no different then death in the larger scheme of things.

I know everyone understands what  birth and death is and have seen it, but seeing something born, something dying, and creating life all in the same day is really an experience. In the same day on the Friest farm, I saw newly born piglets, and then fifteen minutes later, I walked in to one being laid on his mom and the piglet was dead; then I artificially inseminated a pig, creating life. Not many people get to experience all three of the those things in a period of a 90 minutes, but my experience on the Friest farm reinforced that life on a farm brings one into daily contact with birth and death.