Awake 1993 3/8 pg 15 pp 2
Raising Sheep Is Our Business
HAVE you ever worn a woolen garment or bought a skein of wool? Did you ever stop to think where the wool came from? Or what is involved in raising the sheep who supply your wool? Maybe we can help you. Why? Because, with my wife, Barbara, I run a sheep farm way down in the South Island of New Zealand.
Sheep are interesting creatures—docile, timid, and often plain stupid. And yet I remember one ewe who controlled her lambs better than any other mother in the flock. Others would lose track of their little ones, but not this ewe. What was special about her? She was blind. But she compensated for her blindness with her acute senses of smell and hearing. She knew exactly where to find her lambs. It was a joy to watch them suckling, their tails wagging as if about to drop off!
I have lived with sheep most of my life here in the South Island. My father has been a sheep farmer for 60 years. Now why do I say “sheep farmer” and not “shepherd”? The popular concept of a shepherd is that of a person who tends a migrant flock of sheep. In our case, we have sheep farms. Our sheep are tended on a fixed piece of land and just moved from one field, or paddock, to another. Instead of dozens or hundreds of sheep, we have thousands. And yet, by New Zealand standards, ours is a small farm. Nevertheless, our work is on an industrial scale. So what does it entail to raise so many sheep?