I went through it once when my family stopped farming and I felt like I went through it again when one of my favorites sold his sheep a couple weeks ago. 31 trucks, that is what it takes to haul away a third generation ranch's range sheep herd.
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| Loading and leaving the desert |
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| A band waiting to be loaded onto the trucks |
Watching those trucks being loaded and then driving away made me sad. Things are changing and I'm don't like it.
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| Aurelio and I at sheep camp |
I said goodbye to my favorite herder, Aurelio and goodbye to one of my favorite ways to spend a morning, going to sheep camps.
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| Oscar, Aurelio's son pushing sheep to the trucks |
Its hard to comprehend the amount of red tape, controversy and plain BS that these guys have to deal with in order to run their operation, provide food and fiber to the world and take care of their families. Unfortunately most of it is government red tape and its making the outlook on survival of the range sheep operations dimmer with each passing year.
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| Almost to the truck |
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| Running the gate |
Ugh. This just breaks my heart. We've never had to sell completely out, but we've had to cut way back in the drought and even that was terrible loading cows on the truck. I can't imagine watching three generations of work all drive away.
ReplyDeleteHeartbreak city. How terrible. And frustrating. And just....UGH! :(
ReplyDelete-Amy