A Few Points of Lack 10/29/2023

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

We were heading to my husband’s grandparents’ home for lunch after church this past Sunday.  On our way there, we got to see something that we very rarely see in our area.  While driving through farmland with livestock is very commonplace, this livestock we saw that day specifically is almost never seen.  We were riding separately with my husband and daughter in his truck in front of me and myself following behind. I saw the animals and I dare say my response was very similar to theirs. I shouted out upon seeing them and when I saw their brake lights flash, I knew exactly what we were doing. We were going to turn around and go back to get a closer look.  And sure enough, in mere seconds there we were all of us pulled over on the side of the road, hanging our heads out of our rolled down windows talking to the residents of a pasture.

You see, we don’t get to see sheep around this part of the world very much.  And as an anglophile, who is quite possibly raising another anglophile, who knows that in The UK sheep are probably one of the more common forms of farm animal, that makes us like them all the more. And really, what is not to love?  They are fluffy and rotund and not as big and threatening as a cow could possibly be.  Now, I cannot say that I myself have ever been personally threatened by a cow, but I have seen some bulls that I was very glad about not being within reach of me.  I don’t know how sheep are to manage from an agricultural angle but from a solely aesthetic standpoint they may very well be one of my most favorite farm animals ranking right up there with horses.  While horses have a certain majesty about them, sheep are just adorable and lambs, oh man, lambs, they’re just adorability to exponential levels.

We’re stopped on the side of the road talking in high pitched baby voices to these sheep and I cannot imagine what we would have looked like to a passerby. Luckily there were none, so I don’t have to have too much concern. There was, however, an absolutely livid Great Pyrenees within the pasture with those sheep and he was utterly and completely opposed to our presence near his wards.  He barked as loud and ferociously as he could bark and even when we were driving away, he followed us along the fence line at full gallop for quite a distance. I don’t know if he thought we were wool thieves or secretly had a picnic lunch packed already supplied with mint jelly, but he was adamant that no shenanigans were going to go on with his sheep. No sir, not on his watch.

I suppose we don’t have many sheep around here because, well, perhaps it is because we have so many other herds. We have a fairly large amount of cattle, mostly beef.  I don’t know why there aren’t that many dairy herds, it’s not like we don’t eat our fair share of dairy around here. I mean, my word; do you know how much butter and cheese alone we use in our cooking? It is a lot.  You see the occasional dairy cow but mostly you see beef cows. There are some people who also have goats here and there.  And while they can be cute, especially the kids, for whatever reason they do not have the appeal to me, nor my daughter, that sheep do. I think a big part of it is the floof factor. I guess the same appeal attributed to cotton candy and Pomeranians applies. Add floof and it cannot help but be cuter. It’s probably science.

I daresay one major reason that we don’t have many sheep around here is because of something else that we don’t have much of around these parts.  We do not particularly have much demand for wool. I suppose it could be of some use, though I am not sure exactly what that use would be. Since we don’t have much weather here that is cool enough to merit its use, I don’t even know the appropriate contexts for which one uses wool. It can get cold here, well not comparably to more northerly climates, but it can actually get cold. We do occasionally get below freezing but it is only occasionally and not the norm for even the heart of winter. So, honestly, wool clothing would probably be a bit much for most winters. I know some people loathe winter, but I do wish we had a bit more of cool weather. It’s rather tedious for me to know that the possibility of a warm Christmas or some other inherently not warm time is there every year.  I don’t see how the southern hemisphere does it.

So maybe it’s just because we don’t have the depths of winter that we don’t see many sheep.  This seems very unfair to me since I do not like the lack of either of these things. No, I am not asking for frostbite at the mere mention of being out of doors or for hypothermia to chase us around every corner.  I just want maybe enough of a coolness for us to have more use of wool, and then, by default we get to see more white (or whatever color) dotted against the green of our pastures.  I would be ridiculously pleased to be able to enjoy a bit more of both.  Also, sheep can make cheese too so why can’t we get in on that market?  I may be grasping at straws, but I just want more floof in the grasslands in my area. We could put them in with the black angus. It would be a lovely contrast of dark and light, big and small and I am all for it. I would be more than happy to have that many more reasons to pull over on the side of the road and anger dogs that are as floofy as the flocks they guard. I don’t feel like that is too much to ask.