Montana

 

It's days like this that I think of the sheep farmers in Montana.  When I first started out as a sheep farmer, I would go to the online forums about raising sheep and chickens.  There would always be these people in Montana or other isolated places where people were miles and miles from the nearest vet and they would be asking people on the forum if they know what some strange symptoms were and what to do.  Then they would huddle in a barn with a sick animal overnight shutting out a blizzard.  

This morning it is snowing and blowing but it is a nice enough 32 degrees and there are only a few inches of snow to plough through to get down to feed the animals.  There is a hole in the right thumb of my glove but that hardly qualifies as anything more than an inconvenience.  It took longer to dump buckets and get water and hay and a little grain but I wasn't hurrying to get out of the weather and I didn't come in with numb fingers.  It makes me cold just thinking about those accounts I read over 10 years ago.  My heart go out to those hardy souls.  I have always thought Virginia is a fine place to raise sheep.   

Another difference in sheep farming in Montana and Virginia --- it is suppose to be 38 degrees and sunny this afternoon.  Hard to believe with the wind whistling and the snow clad cedars bending but I do believe it, living here.  Maybe I wouldn't living in Montana.