Tag: sheep

Posted on

A Good Shepherd

Early Morning Start from Mantua, UT, Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
Early Morning Start from Mantua, UT
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

Border Collie Sweeping Behind Sheep, Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer Border Collie Sweeping Behind Sheep
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

Entering Brigham City, UT, Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer Entering Brigham City, UT
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

“Here they come!”

I heard the cry as I was hurrying down the side of the road in Mantua to watch the yearly tailing of the sheep.

The sheep suddenly crested a small hill, and I was face to face with one thousand sheep on the move. I grabbed a nearby mailbox and hung on as the sheep rumbled by on all sides.

The sheep were on their way from the hills above Mantua to their winter home in Bear River City, 23 miles away. For 4 generations, Eph Jensen Livestock has had a dedicated right of way to make this journey, including the mile and a half on US Hwy 89 between Mantua and the Brigham City exit.

By now I had hopped in my car and was following the flock. They were keeping a brisk pace of about 5 mph. There were 6 shepherds jogging alongside. Then, there at the back, I spotted a hard-working Border Collie racing left and then right behind the last of the sheep, making sure they kept up with the big group.

It’s rare these days to see a sheep dog actually at work. But the International Sheep Dog Competition comes to Soldier Hollow every year, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Here you can see teams from as far away as South Africa and New Zealand competing with local teams. Each owner and their Border Collie will step up to a starting pole. When the timer starts, the owner sends the dog up the hill and out of sight to gather up 10 rough range sheep and bring them back through a series of free standing gates.

Now at this competition, the owner then sends the dog up and over another hill, and the dog brings back 10 more sheep wearing bright red collars.

Up until now the owner has been keeping busy at the starting pole, blowing a whistle and yelling commands. But now both the owner and the dog enter a large circle marked off on the grass by a series of knotted red handkerchiefs. The task is to keep 5 sheep with red collars- and only these five sheep -inside the circle. This is no easy task, as sheep never want to be separated from the larger group.

Meanwhile the clock is ticking down. This is where time runs out for most of the teams. But for the few still in the game, there is a tiny box corral close by that the sheep really do not want to enter.

Ironically, the faster the dog moves now, the flightier the sheep become. Nothing but slow steady pressure will get them into the tiny pen.

I find myself holding my breath. This is where this year’s champion will be decided.

Win or lose, there’s much applause for each team. And for me, much gratitude to the men and women whose love and close communication with their dogs have given us a glimpse into the ancient art of being a good shepherd.

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah

Credits:

Images Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Courtesy & Copyright © Anderson, Howe, Wakeman
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Mary Heers

Soldier Hollow Classic Sheepdog Championship & Festival, https://soldierhollowclassic.com/

The 2023 Eph Jensen Livestock Sheep Trailing, Bear River Heritage Area, https://youtu.be/4s5gaWNxdpw

Posted on

When Farm Meets Forest

When Farm Meets Forest: A Herd of Sheep Near Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
A Herd of Sheep Near Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

Pyrenean Mountain Sheep Dog Near Mendon Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer Pyrenean Mountain Sheep Dog
Near Mendon
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

Last week, while driving along the western edge of Cache Valley just north of Mendon, I saw a huge herd of sheep complete with a sheepherder’s hut. I slammed on the breaks and jumped out with my camera to catch a few pictures of this rippling river of white. As I approached, a big beautiful white stepped out of the flock. This sheepdog was on the job, protecting the flock from any intruders. As we took a long look at each other, I remembered the story of a similar dog who made quite a splash in the local news 20 years ago.

In this story, a Bear Lake resident, Jimmy Stone, spotted a white Pyrenean in Logan Canyon, and got to worrying if it was lost. He started taking daily trips up the canyon to fill a bowl with dog food and tasty treats. The dog came down to eat the food, but would not leave the area. Jimmy hiked up a nearby ridge, and with the help of his binoculars, discovered the dog’s secret: This loyal guardian dog was sticking with 3 lost sheep. Hoping to lure all 4 off the mountain, Jimmy dropped off a bale of hay. The sheep did not come own, so the dog carried the hay up the hillside – bit by bit. Jimmy dropped off branches of crispy apples. The dog carried them up. The sheep were not coming down, and the dog was not leaving without them. Winter snow arrived. Jimmy bought out all the corn dogs at a local convenience store and threw them like tiny footballs up to the dog. More snowstorms arrived. It was time to ask for help. Search and Rescue showed up immediately with snowmobiles and sleds. This story has a happy ending as the search and rescue team managed to get the dog and the sheep safely off the mountain.

Meanwhile, back on the side of the road north of Mendon, I found out this huge herd of sheep had spent the summer in the mountains above Hardware Ranch. They had been brought here by trucks and were now gleaning a local farmer’s alfalfa fields. Soon the trucks would return to take them to Nevada to spend the winter.

How different this huge herd was from the early pioneer days in Mendon when most people only owned a family milk cow and a few smaller animals. It was the job of the local “herd boy” to gather the milk cows and take them up the mountain to graze during the day. Apparently taking the cows home was the easy part of this job. Each cow knew exactly where she lived and would peel off the group at their own garden gate.

Unfortunately, over time, as the livestock populations increased, the Mendon mountain got severely overgrazed. Each rainstorm would send rocks and mud crashing down the steep slopes. Trying to persuade the town council to get the livestock off the mountain and let the vegetation recover, John O Hughes made a bold move. During a council meeting, he took his glass of water and dumped half of it over the head of a bald man. Everyone watched in stunned silence as the water rolled right off the bald head and soaked the man’s shirt. Hughes then dumped the rest of the water onto a man with a bushy head of hair. This man’s shirt stayed dry. That settled the debate.

To this day, the Mendon mountain is green and wooded. It’s nothing short of a hiker’s paradise.

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers.
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections, Courtesy & Copyright © Friend Weller, Utah Public Radio upr.org and Courtesy & Copyright © Anderson, Howe, Wakeman
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah, Mary Heers’ Postings

Great Pyrenees, Dog Breed Profile, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, https://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/dog-breeds/great-pyrenees

Stone, Jim, Stone, Karen, The Legend of BIG BOY Safe or Stranded: An Account of a Real Life Living Legend, Balboa Press, January 7, 2021, https://www.amazon.com/Legend-BIG-BOY-Safe-Stranded/dp/1982260386

Kent, Steve, Dog who refused to abandon sheep in Logan remembered in book, The Associated Press, January 23, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/sheep-canyons-utah-dogs-logan-5a2db87b1fd300b1b39d0de3885ea5eb

“Six hikes are detailed in the Wellsville Mountains above and west of Mendon”
Wallace, David, Cache Hikers 2023, Bridgerland Audubon Society, 2023, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/product/cache-trails/

Posted on

Sheep, Salt and the Great Salt Lake

Sheep, Salt and the Great Salt Lake: Fremont Island, The Great Salt Lake, Courtesy & © Mary Heers
Fremont Island
The Great Salt Lake
Courtesy & © Mary Heers

Floating on the Great Salt Lake, Courtesy & © Mary Heers Floating on the
Great Salt Lake
Courtesy & © Mary Heers

All of last year, the news about the Great Salt Lake was going from bad to worse. We began to hear dire predictions that the shrinking lake might disappear altogether.

Then, finally, with some legislative action and a big boost from record snow and rain, the water level began to rise. The marina on the southern tip of the lake opened up.

I grabbed the chance to take a boat ride out onto the lake. The water was calm and smooth and Fremont Island loomed large ahead. We were the only boat out there.

Ah, I thought, this is a lot like Kit Carson and John Fremont must have seen the island when they paddled up to it in 1843.

The boat operator told us some early history of the island. In 1859 two brothers, Henry and Daniel Miller, took 153 sheep out to the island and left them there. It seemed ideal – plenty of grass, adequate fresh water’ and no wild beasts. So, no need to leave a herder.

The brothers returned periodically to shear the sheep. They also built two huge vats, lit a fire of sagebrush under them, and boiled the lake water down to salt.

Business was good. Boatloads of salt were sold to the silver mines in Montana who needed it in their operations. The excess lambs were taken to market and sold.

By now the sheep, left alone on the island for long stretches of time, were becoming wild as deer. One roundup, some sheep were so determined not to get caught that they took off swimming away from the island. They were still going when they disappeared over the horizon.

But the story really took a turn when a judge from Salt Lake, Uriah Wenner, took advantage of the Desert Land Act intended to encourage irrigation and farming in the west. He filed a claim on the island and evicted the sheep. It was 1885, and Jacob Miller, now in charge of the Miller family sheep operation on the island was a polygamist “in hiding.” He didn’t dare go to court to challenge the claim.

As the last of the sheep were taken off the island, they were placed in the custody of an experienced herder. The herder was just beginning to cook his breakfast in his hut.

“You’d better watch these sheep,” he was warned.

“Don’t tell me how to herd sheep,” said the herder.

He finished his breakfast. When he came out of his hut, the sheep were gone.

The story ended, but the best was yet to come. The boat stopped and my husband and I slid into the water off the back of the boat.

Gleefully we bobbed around like corks. It was impossible to sink. I flipped on my back and stretched out. It would have been easy to doze off. Buoyancy at its best.

The current salinity of the Great Salt Lake is 16%. That’s just about halfway from the oceans at 3½ and the saltiest water on earth – the Dead Sea at 33%

The Great Salt Lake is our unique treasure. But it’s future is still at risk. Will we keep it or lose it?

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah, Mary Heers’ Postings

Seymour Miller’s Account of an Early Sheep Operation on Fremont Island (Edited by David H. Miller and Anne H. Eckman,) Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, Number 2, 1988, Utah State History, https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume56_1988_number2/s/157386

Great Salt Lake Collaborative, Solutions Journalism Network, https://greatsaltlakenews.org/