SHEPHERD

On July 15^th after a morning of work, we decided to head north in the silver Prius to visit a working sheep farm where a man named Neal works in the old fashioned way with sheep and sheep dogs.  He is known far and wide for his expertise, and we wanted to check it out thinking it would be a great family adventure.  It was such an amazing experience.  For starters, the drive up was very scenic—lots of hills and mountains to enjoy.  The A-9 highway was a pretty easy road for an American to drive, plenty of opportunities to pass the occasional slower car or big semi truck.  The trip up took about an hour and a half, and we had plenty of time to spare. 

As we were getting closer, we decided to stop for a break. We found a little rest area/café/highlands visitor center.  We enjoyed stretching our legs and hitting the toilet.  We also found a neat little gift shop called the “Highland Coo” (named after the ever-so-popular highland cow).  We got some neat gifts for friends and family, and Will found a funny children’s book about a character named “Hamish the Hairy Haggis.”  Hilarious! 

After our stretch break, we arrived early to the farm.  First of all, it was out in the middle of nowhere.  We’re driving along a small 2 lane road and then a sign appears about a daily sheep and dog show, and then we turn left.  We are out in the middle of rugged highlands country, and we head up a very narrow dirt road that is quite bumpy. We arrive around 3 pm with an hour to spare and learn that one tour is finishing up and we have time to kill.  So we enjoy a wonderful walk through the pastures after being greeted by an adorable little black and white Border collie puppy who was so loving and friendly.  The kids really enjoyed that, and we could tell that all was falling into place. 

During our walk around the farm property, we went through large fields of sheep, saw many rabbits running all across the hills and grass, and we even found an old run down and falling in farm house of sorts that gave us a glimpse into the past:  dirt floor, wooden timbers for roof supports, dirt cover, then wood and medal covering.  It was all falling apart, but it was a powerful image for us to talk about the way of life for farmers not too long ago.   We noticed an older man with a shepherd’s crook walking for dogs, and so we made our way down a small hill to speak with him.  He was in his 70s and lived next door to the shepherd who we were actually there to see.  He was friendly and his dogs were curious and energetic and inviting.  He asked about us and after telling him about the exchange, he made certain that we knew he was an atheist.  We tried to listen and to be respectful, even though I was rather floored that someone could live in such a majestic place and not believe in God at all.  He said one of his close friends is a Catholic priest, and he adores him.  We said our goodbyes and made our way to the main attraction, the sheep herding demonstration.

 

By the time we made it back to the farm, we noticed many cars in the lot that only an hour earlier only contained our car.  There were people from Scotland, England, and even India.  We met a really sweet family who had a daughter working in Glasgow.  She has been here 8 years, and this is her parent’s first time to visit her.  They were so lovely.  We all paid our money to the main guy, Neal, and he had a little cash box that he put all the money in.  After paying, he sent us down to a little field where we sat upon the rocks overlooking a large pasture.  No sheep were anywhere in sight, but there were a few of Neal’s dogs roaming around.  All of his dogs are black and white Border collies.

Neal comes down, and he does a bit of a brief introduction.  He is a self-described shepherd.  He has grown up in the area with his extended family, and he considers what he does not just a job but a way of life.  He is probably around 50-55 years old, has a scruffy beard, and longish hair.  He is a very fit man of about six feet tall who had on the long green farming rubber boots with his button down shirt and fleece coat.  We all needed extra layers because of the wind.  It was only about 60 degrees.  Neal told us about being on the land and caring for his sheep.  He is responsible for thousands of sheep covering many, many acres.  Once a year he brings them all in, and they use 35 dogs and 7 shepherds to bring the sheep in over a 5 day period from more than 12 miles away! 

Neal had a shepherd’s crook, a long stick with a curved sheep horn handle.  He spoke commands to his dogs in Gaelic, and he did a lot of whistling.  It was a bit hard to hear him due to the wind and his rather hoarse voice, but we understood well what was going on once the dogs began to work.  Neal said he was going to have his dogs bring in about 20-30 sheep.  He yelled the name of one dog, gave it a command, whistled and it ran like lightening far down in the distance, then Neal would send another dog, and another.  Within a few minutes and a good bit of whistling, way ahead in the distance we could see the sheep coming towards us.  By this time, Neal had about 6 dogs working, and by the time they came to us, he had as many as 12 dogs involved.

It was all incredible.  Each dog knows a variety of command, and each one has his own whistle commands.  Neal has to keep straight not just the verbal commands but all of the dogs names, all of their whistle commands, and how the sheep are responding to the dogs at any given second.  Occasionally a dog would nip at a sheep, and Neal would offer a firm correction with the staff.  Neal show-cased different dogs in action.  He would have dogs circling the sheep clockwise and counter-clockwise.  He would let the sheep run a bit, and then show the dogs moving them back. 

The real show stopper for us was this bright little 13 week old puppy, a small fry of only a few pounds.  Neal let the little guy work the sheep back and forth for a few minutes, and we all cheered!  It was really something to see.  Neal showed us how to use the shepherd’s staff, and he even scooped up the puppy from the middle of the herd of sheep when the little guy got a bit covered up during the demo. 

One part of the show included a sheep shearing demonstration, and unlike the guy at the Game Fair, Neal did it the old fashioned way with hand shears.  They looked like oversized scissors.  He was very skilled, and he told us all about the sheep as he worked through shearing them. He invited people to take turns shearing, and Will jumped up first to volunteer!  Aubrey didn’t want to do it, but Will had a great time. 

After the shearing, we headed back up the hill to the small pens where Neal brought out soda bottles that had been rigged with special nipple tips for the baby sheep.  He let out a whole bunch of babies, and the kids got to feed the sheep by bottle.  Both Aubrey and Will loved this!  It was so cute to watch the sheep feed and how energetic they were by the whole event.  Neal let a number of puppies out as well and did some great demonstrations on how to train a dog.  The puppies followed him very obediently.  They knew his every move and voice.

It was such a gift for us as a family to do the event.  As a pastor, I was so impressed by the way Neal talked about his love for the land, for the animals, for living as a good steward of the creation and caring so faithfully for the creator.  He spoke of being willing to work hard and how being a shepherd is a life-long process where you never really arrive.  He told us about the many, may shepherd who were in the highlands years ago and how now there are only a few left.  We all left being really thankful for Neal and for what he taught us.  I left thinking a great deal about Psalm 23 and John 10.  I have worked with those passages many, many times, and because of Neal I have some entirely new ways to look at God as our shepherd and more specifically Jesus Christ as our good shepherd, who knows all of the sheep, and who is willing to lay down his life for the sheep. 

Our ending to the trip was a bit noisy.  We bought some books and postcards and shepherd’s whistles!  The kids got a crash course from Neal, and most of the way back to Perth tried there best to make them sing.  The day ended with coming back to town and grabbing some grub at Wetherspoon’s.  It was really crowded and the food was just so, so (unfortunately).  Mediocre food couldn’t take away the joy we felt.