Selling Our Flock of Sheep Today

Sad day...the cattle dealer is coming today to get our remaining flock of sheep.

 

We owe money for property taxes, and while we had 70 acres of our wood lot clear cut to make more grazing acres, and use the money from the wood to pay our taxes, the logger cut the wood and never paid us for it. His equipment is littered throughout the county, all waiting for the bank to take it back. I even have a Cat 525 skidder sitting on my land, the logger checking it every day to see if it has been repossessed yet. He is in essence, out of business.

 

Under Maine law he has 45 days to pay me, but that has since passed and no money, and honestly I doubt he has the $15,000 or so I am owed. We will ultimately get our money as it is outright theft and our attorneys, the Maine Forest Service and District Attorney's Office all said I will get my money, but it will take a few years for it to go through court (1 year), then a few years for the restitution payments to be made.

 

....

 

Selling the flock is sad, we have had sheep here since 1746, and actually go back to the Mayflower Days, and while the Mayflower did not have sheep on it, 3 years later a deed showed a barter for land they listed a flock of sheep as collateral. A tailor by trade, it only makes sense that we had sheep in those days, and records show we had the first sheep shearing shed in New England. Considering how cold it is here, and the need for woolen items, it makes sense.

 

...

 

But all is not bad, Katie went back to work and loves her new job. She is a banker and gets commissions, but serves high end clients. Some days she is moving $200k, so her quarterly bonuses will ultimately be nice. We are hoping to use one of those this fall to buy a new flock of sheep; maybe whole new genetics will be a good thing. My cattle dealer will go anywhere in the country so we can bring in some sheep, and buying them in the fall is the time to buy sheep.

 

We can also use her bonuses to pay our property taxes, not to mention investing in the farm so we can actually make money on some house rentals and stuff. So we know this will probably be the low point of farming, but thankfully the bible gives us direction on everything, even selling sheep.

 

Habakkuk 3:17-18

 

Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
¹⁸ Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.

 

 

Selling Our Flock of Sheep Today