The Project

THE PROJECT "Birth on the Farm" is the first in a series of videos aimed at capturing my desire to share with others, the scenes, experiences and ideas that I had growing up. My goal is to interest, enlighten, educate and entertain by helping create an awareness and respect for life, the birth process, animals and for farm life. Showing animals birthing is a very healthy and natural way to teach children where babies come from - viewing this video has been proven to stimulate a wholesome and comfortable discussion. The video takes you, through the eyes of the farmer, to the farm. You will see things from his perspective and the way they are on the farm. I have observed that children who are raised on a farm (in the country) and those who grow up in the city have a different perception, or view, of the "birds and the bees". (I think that some may confuse them as being the last names of two people getting under the sheets together ;^) As a youngster, I viewed and observed animals breeding and the birthing process. Being alone in a field, seeing a calf born is fascinating and brings a somewhat reverent feeling and creates a respect and love for animals. Those on a farm enjoy being around animals and understand the life cycle. You learn what to expect and realize that animals are raised for food and to benefit man, you can love them, but still let them go. And it doesn't hurt, you just care for the next ones. One day I overheard my mother talking to my dad. A new small housing division was started next to a dairy farmer about 5 miles from our farm. She said, "Grant, (thats my dad's name) I talked to Sister Adamson today." Now my mother was religious, and a very good lady at that, Heaven rest her soul, that is why she called her sister. She said to dad, "Honey, I saw Sister Adamson at a church gathering and she said that she had one of the new neighbors from the housing addition call her and was very upset." "What was she upset about?" asked dad. Sister Adamson said, "This lady said, I want you to put your animals away where they can't be seen! I can see your bulls out my front windows and they are jumping on top of your cows. And my children can see this disgusting thing. I want you to put your animals away in the corrals where they cannot be seen." "What did Sister Adamson say about that?" Dad was religious also. Mom quietly whispered, "She said, lady you go to hell", I will keep the cattle in the field where they belong, then she hung up on her." Mom and dad had a good chuckle over that. Maybe with a different point of view, this could have been a great teaching moment for this lady and her children instead of a dirty experience. When I was a wee lad, I saw bulls breed cows. I saw calves, lambs, colts and pigs born and chickens hatched. When we would ask what the animals were doing we were told. It was no big deal. To illustrate this point, I have a good friend Vern who is a mobile butcher. He goes around to farms and slaughters a beef or pig or whatever for a farmer and then takes it back to his lockers to prepare the meat for them. Vern takes his boys with him from time to time, and not long ago one son was with him and saw some breeding going on. The child had seen calves born before, but suddenly, like a light turning on in his head, he looked at his dad and said, "That's how mommies and daddies have babies, right Dad?" To nature, sex is not pornographic, bad, or nasty it is part of life and an every day occurrence. If children are taught reverence for birth and life at a younger age - before wrong influences creep in - they may be more acceptable to the moral and prevention issues. When I was filming the ewes lambing, my young daughter was with me and watched the birth process and the mother licking and cleaning her new born lamb. She noticed the umbilical cord and said, "That's where our belly button comes from, huh Dad?" I confirmed her observation and she was happy with herself for having come to this conclusion on her own.

THE STORY BEHIND THE PROJECT

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