It is a school of patience which requires time and develops the sense of the observation…
The sheep breeder will find it to be a fascinating adventure because of all the animals of the farm he is probably the least domesticated, the shiest, the most rebel. This makes him attractive as much as unpleasant : those that disdain that ” heap of alive and stupid meat ” pronounces a hasty and erroneous judgment. In fact there are the attitude of the herdsman and the circumstances of breeding which condition the reactions of a herd.
The sheep is effectively a very particular and strange companion: he does not look for caresses and stays in respectable distance when one approaches. He is afraid of any new presence, adapts himself with difficulty to changes, does not obey orders, does not bear any constraint and runs away in unusual noises! So enters the small lamb that the children caress for some minutes and the daily of a grown-up, gregarious and fearful sheep, there is a gap which risks to disappoint many families of amateurs.
The spirit of the breeder relaxes in the presence of such independent animals . The essential activity consists in watching them living: the herd grazes by walking slowly, then ruminates and sleeps. The dominant ewe gives the signal of the flight, on the contrary the quitest pulls the herd in the sheepfold. The shepherd keeps an eye on them : speculates on the development of a lamb, tracks down the social organization, notices individual behavior and watch the changes of attitude which gives evidence of a disease or a birth to come.
Peace, silence and slowness are essential to the sheperd accepted with its animals. He visits them every day, rather at the same moment , brings a greed, reassures them, listens and observes.
It is surely a school of patience which requires time and develops the sense of the observation.
Breeding sheep requires qualities which the beginner does not possess necessarily. But after some months the breeder notices that he is more domesticated with his sheeps than these last ones are with him! Only the acceptance of this reality enables a better knowledge of oneself and authorizes progress in the behaviour of the breeding.