Day: July 24, 2012

The Old Sheep are one of the loveliest and most timely of stories. I am not into emotionalizing animals, as you know, but today the old sheep accepted me, took me into their midst, let me see their intimacy, community and feeling. I stood in the middle of them, fending off flies and smells and what I felt I was seeing was tender goodbyes. The old sheep are spending their last summer on my farm, on my grass, and then most, if not all of them, will go to slaughter.

This lovely story involves the ram on the right. He is always with the same ewe, always leaning against her, she is always looking for him, and permitting this. They are an inseparable couple, always together, yet not, to me, mournful. I hear them telling me this: do not be sad for us, we are not piteous or in need of saving, but we are  living our lives, accepting our time, saying goodbye in our own way.

No farmer can afford to keep sheep this old, and this farmer is gracious and  kind to offer them a final summer on grass. Few farmers would do that. I don’t really see the old sheep as sad, rather than tender. They are so gentle with one another, they huddle much of the day, touching, leaning on one another. The old sheep were very gracious to invite me in with them today, and I was well-rewarded. Photo album on Facebook.

When Red is near Rocky, he always takes up position in front of the pony’s head, in front of his eyes. If you were prone to believing such things, you might think that he was acting as Rocky’s eyes. Rocky is very calm, very easy around Red, always reaching out to sniff him, to see where he is.

This morning, I stopped to check on Rocky and give him fresh water, and he was in his new stall, which he loves, out of the sun and away from the flies. Red took up position in front of the stall door. Rocky decided to come out and he could easily have just walked into Red, stepped on him or over him. But he didn’t. He reached down, located him with his nose, and in the photo below, carefully stepped around him. Red does not move when he is around Rocky, and I almost get the sense he makes it easy for the pony to locate him, and Rocky is at ease with things he can locate.

This was a touching thing to see, another thing to learn in the way animals are sensitive to one another, communicate with each other. I have decided that this is lovely story day on Bedlam Farm. The first was Red and the old sheep. More to come.

My pal George Forss the photographer came by Sunday and he has conducted some Frankenstein arrangement by patching a 500 mm Vivitar lens on his EOS digital Canon. Never saw anything quite l like it, but I was flattered to be the first photo he took of me taking a photo of him. Only fair to put it up. I don’t much like photos of myself, but I like this one. George is a holy man, a prophet, a genius.

I had my 35 mm lens trained on him.

Every morning, I wake up, and I have

one more day,

another day,

to live my life,

to find love,

to be creative,

to do good,

to find the light

and beauty in the world.

How will I use it?

One of the old sheep is frail, and she has trouble keeping up with the rest of the flock. I think she has trouble seeing and her legs are weak and she is very slow. She is often separated from the flock, struggling to keep up. I have worried about her getting lost in the burdocks up on the hill.

Yesterday, we heard a ewe bleating way up at the the hill where the old sheep go at night. The sound was so faint I almost missed it, but Red didn’t.

I saw him leave the flock and stare up the hill. I released him and he disappeared over the crest and out of sight. A few minutes later, the old ewe came walking slowly down, Red behind her,  guiding her to the rest of the flock, keeping a careful distance, moving slowly. He was leading her but not rushing her. I had not seen this before.

This morning, when we came out to check the old sheep, I looked for her and couldn’t find her. Red was ahead of me, looking up the hill. I sent him to get her, and in a few minutes he returned with the old ewe in tow. She followed him down, and then surprised me. Instead of joining the flock, as I expected her to do, she stayed with him. He is very gentle with her, I see,  ignoring her if she slows down, and waiting when she is tired. If she is struggling, she comes and stands near  him, and does not get lost. He even lets he sniff him, something other sheep would not dare try. He watches out for her. She trusts him.

Red is an intuitive worker and herder, I am learning. He treats the flock in one way, individual sheep another. He is very careful around the old ones. If they challenge him, he gets right in their face. If they are slow and frail, then he is patient and generous. He looks for the old frail ewe now, and is easy with her even if she stands right behind him, something a border collie would normally never permit.

I love this story, loved seeing it, it reminds me of the connection we all have with one another, even if it is so often buried under human foibles, anger, judgement and craziness.