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When I was in elementary school, goats arose in every household, and the fear of cutting the tail of capitalism suddenly ceased to exist. For a time, these domestic animals, which used to be only kept in the production team, quietly entered the homes of ordinary people.
Every time I saw my little friend talk about teasing the lamb's happy and triumphant appearance between classes, I felt itchy inside and couldn't do it. But I don't know why, the family just doesn't buy sheep, doesn't raise sheep, I'm anxious and sad, but there is no way. Just when I was anxious, my second uncle, who had just returned from demobilization from the army, bought a lamb from the set. With my grandmother's family spoiling me, I couldn't help but bring the lamb home.
This is a little white ewe, probably just weaned, full of novelty about everything, very cute. When I first came back, the lamb's head had not yet grown horns, and there were two soft little meat drops hanging from the neck, which was particularly fun. It didn't take long for the lamb to grow a pair of inverted "eight" shaped horns, which were very powerful. Coupled with the fact that the goats are lively and active, and when they are bold, they climb the wall and climb the house like a flat foot, which makes me obsessed with cutting grass and herding sheep when I have time. When Grandpa saw that I liked it, he made a neck ring for the lamb and tied it to a rope. When I was in school, I tied the little goat under the window of the south house next to the pigsty, which was also a "home" for the little goat with good location and conditions.
Ever since I had this little goat, I've had a fixed assignment after school. In the spring, summer, and autumn seasons, as soon as school is over, I put on a basket and pick up a sickle, and go all over the slope to find food for the little goats. In fact, the small goat is very good to raise, the amount of food is not large, there are many edible wild grasses and wild vegetables, and its recipe is almost exactly the same as that of cattle, pigs and rabbits, and the same basket of weeds and wild vegetables can feed them. In the hometown, in addition to the fallen leaves of trees such as willow locust elm jujube, the common weeds that can be used to feed sheep are straw grass, weed grass, articulate grass, red twist flower, etc., and common wild vegetables also have bitter vegetables, ququ vegetables, Fuzi seedlings, teasing tooth acid and many other kinds. In particular, sweet potato fields, peanut fields, corn fields and the grasses that can be found everywhere along the roadside canals are excellent fodder. A lush grass is a handful, and if you encounter a piece of such grass, you can quickly cut a large basket. The grass is also very suitable for drying into hay, and the wisps of drying after drying are very fragrant.
In the summer and autumn, it is the time when the weeds are growing wildly, and it is also the time when the dried grass stores winter feed for the sheep. I remember when I was in junior high school, I used to take advantage of my lunch break to run to the sweet potato field and peanut fields to pull grass. Although the sun is poisonous and the temperature is the highest at noon, it seems that at that time, I am not afraid of the sun, nor do I know the heat, and I can pull out a lot at noon. The plucked grass was spread directly on the crops, and by the end of the evening school, the grass was basically dried, and it was harvested into a bundle and taken home. There was no one in the field at noon, and I was not worried about the grass being picked up by others, and I was very proud of my little cleverness, so I enjoyed it. Of course, the results are not small, and it did not take long to accumulate a bunch of high-quality "winter grains" for my beloved little goat. Arthropod is also a weed that lambs like, this section of green plants with only rods and no leaves, grows a lot on the loose sandy land of the hometown, and cutting this weed can be said to be effortless.
In the cold winter, there is no grass to cut, and after school, they often lead small goats and trot all the way to the riverside roadside and under the wasteland. The little goat is naturally not polite, happily nibbling on the dead grass and leaves, and the head cannot be lifted.
The work of raising sheep is not only about cutting grass and herding sheep, but also about cleaning the sheep pen every day. Of course, the work is also simple, just sweep away the sheep dung, shovel the dirty soil, and sprinkle new soil. This little work does not require adults to intervene, and it is only a matter of doing it for a while.
This little goat was raised by me for more than a year before becoming a mother and giving birth to a little brown ewe. After the lamb was weaned, Grandpa urged me to return the mother sheep to my uncle. Under my careful feeding, this brown lamb also grew up very quickly and well, surpassing its mother. To my surprise, the sheep was very humane, and I stumbled upon the fact that when I came home from school, the lamb that was tied up in the south house and couldn't see me at all would bark softly, and it was really unclear how it knew I was coming home. Occasionally, when I couldn't hear its call, I would deliberately cough softly, and its cries would come immediately. Hearing it was like waiting for my cry, I couldn't even put down my bag, first held a handful of food for it, and watched it finish eating before leaving. What surprised me even more was that when I went to the wild to release it, I simply wrapped the rope that held it loosely around its neck and let it run freely. It didn't go anywhere, it was always following my ass, like a shadow, inseparable, which really surprised me. I really didn't expect that the sheep I had fed would be so dependent on me, so friendly.
I have also found some discoveries in the practice of raising sheep, for example, I found that sheep prefer to eat drier food, the same kind of grass, dried more popular than freshly cut. Sometimes the grass cut is not clean, I kindly put it in the water to rinse it, but found that the sheep did not eat it, it would rather eat the grass without water stained with soil, it is difficult for the sheep not to feel the teeth? Also, in the autumn, a thin, dense, soft white fluff grows under the coarse wool, which is the famous cashmere, which is the "warm underwear" of the sheep, but it was not known at the time. Now think about it, how accurate and vivid are the idioms of "autumn without committing a crime" and "clearly observing the autumn", and using "autumn" as a borrowing and metaphor! In the spring and summer, even if you don't shear the sheep, the sheep will automatically shed their hair, take off the thick old hair, take off the "warm underwear", and grow short, neat, loose new hair, just like changing into a new spring and summer clothes, when the goats appear to be particularly spiritual.
I kept sheep until I left my hometown, after which my younger siblings continued to raise them, reaching several more often. In the years of raising sheep, there was happiness and sadness, and I still vividly remember how my mother was sad that she did not sell the ideal price before the New Year. Poor home, meticulous life, I can understand my mother's mood. I just hope that the mother in heaven has long forgotten this unhappiness and will always be happy and happy to watch us!
Forty or fifty years have passed since the days of raising sheep, and although the past is like smoke, it is still vividly remembered, and many things are unforgettable. Life is probably like this, bitter coarse tea and light rice, but also worth repeatedly chewing carefully.
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