Wehner Homestead

[RollingAcres]

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss...
It's so hard to have to explain death to young children. Hang in there and hugs to you all.

 

[goats&moregoats]

Sorry to hear of your loss of the bull, the & the kitten. Sometimes farm life is rough. Hang in there.

 

[CntryBoy777]

It has been my experience that explaining the truth to young children and answering their questions about it is the best way to go.....it can be tough, but they do understand much more than they get credit for.....especially growing up on a farm they are exposed to a wide variety of "teachable moments".....if the truth is always shared, then they will always respect you and look to you to answer the tough questions and will trust ya.....sorry for your loss and wish ya well in your explanation to them.....

 

[RollingAcres]

It has been my experience that explaining the truth to young children and answering their questions about it is the best way to go.....it can be tough, but they do understand much more than they get credit for.....especially growing up on a farm they are exposed to a wide variety of "teachable moments".....if the truth is always shared, then they will always respect you and look to you to answer the tough questions and will trust ya.....sorry for your loss and wish ya well in your explanation to them.....

I'm with @CntryBoy777 on that.
It's hard to explain it to them and we don't want to get into too much details but we want them to know and learn about death just as much as we want them to learn about life.
There's a book called "God needed a Puppy", perhaps telling them that Otis went to heaven because God needed a bull might help explaining it?

 

[Bruce]

I "liked" your post but only in support of you and the family. So sorry Otis had to be put down.

 

[Southern by choice]

I am so sorry.

I'm with @CntryBoy777 on that.
It's hard to explain it to them and we don't want to get into too much details but we want them to know and learn about death just as much as we want them to learn about life.
There's a book called "God needed a Puppy", perhaps telling them that Otis went to heaven because God needed a bull might help explaining it?

Please don't do this. I do not think many people realize how damaging those words are.
Saying these words to a child has serious long term affects especially in how they view God and develop (or often not) their relationship with Him.
Far to many children have been told "God needed". First, no God doesn't "need" anything. Second, a child has a difficult time understanding how taking mom, dad, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa etc because "God needed them" and they don't. I share this because I have seen this far too many times. Grown adults with those words ringing in their ears years after they lost their parent (as a child)... angry, confused, sad, hating God because they never have understood why God needed mom ( or whatever) more then them.

Speak truth, don't lie. Truth is that all creatures and humans will die at some point. Sometimes sickness, sometimes accidents etc... God is there to comfort us in our grief and welcome our loved ones as they return back to Him.

 

[Baymule]

I am sorry about Otis. I know he was a valued member of the farm and will be missed.

 

[Bruce]

Good post SBC, very good post.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Thanks all! The support is greatly appreciated! We are still reeling. We’ve been very honest with the kids. They know that Otis fell off the ledge and was stuck and after we all tried to save him, we found that he was hurt too badly and that he was suffering. They wanted to take him to the hospital so we explained that’s not always an option for bulls. Their biggest thing is that they just want him back so we tell that that he’s with God or Jesus and once there, bulls can’t come back. They seem to accept that well. The kids also understand that Daddy had to kill him because he was in so much pain and couldn’t get better. We also talked about him being picked up by a company that buries big animals. (That one is a little stretch but I couldn’t explain fertilizer at that time as I was too emotional and being spread on the ground and worked in is technically buried-right?!)

We have a new bull coming tomorrow to cover the rest of our breeding season. He’s being borrowed from a friend that “happened” to have an extra. (God works in mysterious ways!) I’ll try to post a pic but I have no idea how he will act.

We have already done AI and then we use a clean-up bull. We wintered 4 cows last year that weren’t bred and we can’t afford to do that again. Live cover rate success is higher.

Exploring a few leads on a bull to raise for next year. Thinking Simmental again. We liked Otis so much better than the different Angus that we had!

Today was my third day in a row of work. (12 hr shifts) I feel like more of a psych nurse than a critical care nurse. These overdosed on synthetic drugs are ridiculous.

DH and his dad took on another 60 acres of hay. It’s on one farm but in varying lots around the farm. Doing dry bales this round that are already spoken for. Hay is cut and tedded but did get rained on today. Bout time to do our place again.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Glad to hear you were able to borrow a bull for now!