Sun Soaked Pasture Lambs

Sheep / May 28, 2024 / By

I slip the small backpack onto my shoulders and pick up the crook from the back of the ranger. A short distance away is a set of twin lambs and their momma. There is plenty of warmth in the sunshine this morning and the lambs are soaking it up.

With my approach Momma realizes something is amiss and gurgles to her babies. They are full bellied, sun soaked, and asleep. They are babes and do not yet recognize the urgency as Momma does. They stay where they are. I regret that I am going to be one of their lessons on wariness. Moving smoothly I step up to the lambs, kneel and place a hand on each. No quick sprint and the shepherds crook is not even needed this time. Sleepy, sun soaked lambs are the easiest to catch and one of my favourite perks of lambing time. The ewe will disagree but I take these easy moments where and when I get them, and am glad for them.

When I am through with the lambs I return them to the distraught ewe. She does a fast sniff inspection of her lambs while backing away. The spray mark applied to the lambs smears the low curve of her belly when one of the babes makes a dive for the udder. Full as they are, a little bit of milk still soothes them from the trauma of being caught. The ewe does another fast check to be sure that she has both lambs and then trots off, urgent to get her lambs a safe distance away.

The scene around the pasture is a busy one. At first glance you can’t be sure who belongs to who. Heck, even on second, third and fourth look you can’t be certain. Ewes and lambs are beginning to make their way to the shade of the trees. A guardian dog is across the way; following the ewes lead, she is also making her way toward the trees. I carry on with checking for lambs while animals are still spread out. My schedule is dictated by their activity and once the animals settle in the trees I won’t bother them on account of the group being in closer quarters. When they settle in the trees disturbing one means disturbing all and it’s not worth it. When the animals settle in the trees is when I take my leave.

The Bird on Your Shoulder

Musing / March 20, 2024 / By

wool sheep with a black bird on her back

You have a notion you just can’t shake.  An idea/problem/reoccurring issue that rides around with you.  Perched there on your shoulder, you see it from the corner of your eye.

If you would turn and face it full on you would know it for what it is, realize what it is trying to tell you.  You would hear the call, see the gift.  But you don’t, you’re still too unsure of the rising up it will ask you to do, or afraid that if it notices you reaching for it, it will take flight and disappear altogether.

So you appreciate that it is there.  It is a small, ironic comfort to you.  Prompting you to think of the things you see yourself doing in your unlived life.  So you do not usher it away.  Instead you put your head down and graze, not yet committed to the new and not yet done with the old, further contemplating the ending of things and wondering about the beginning of others.

During a walk last week, I was marveling that I could use the pasture trails due to lack of snow.  I was mulling over how small the flock is, how simple the winter chores are, how few guardian dogs are here and how many Kelpies, and how far off course this winter felt.  There have been changes in my day to day work load; changes that eased themselves in over the course of a years time rather than arriving all at once.  As I walked and thought of what my day was shaping up to be I caught myself wondering … am I even in agriculture anymore?

Maybe I never was.

This is the bird on my shoulder.

Prairie Allure

Musing, Prairie / December 20, 2023 / By

Two dogs walking in prairie grass

The sky is a blanket of gun mental grey, the wind is barely there. Tinted by frost the yellow and burnt oranges of the grasses are more grey than gold.  The trees are leafless.  No sunlight shines and no shadows are cast.

The landscape of prairie stretching outward under the flat sky is beautifully composed with an opulent silence. No sound is being made and yet every sound is being heard. The trail for one leading onward is alluring. The dogs and I walk long and deep because it is what the morning calls for. And with the walking perspectives are realigned and purposes are recharged.