Raising sheep reaps many benefits such as mutton and wool, or even just to keep company. It’s not that hard either, with only a few simple steps, you too can raise your very own flock. The value of keeping such livestock is dependent on the shepherd. In many cases, raising sheep has been known to be a means of income generation or self-sustenance, in any case, however, it was done for survival.
Before procuring livestock, the first step is to set up a good pasture. Make sure that the sheep will have plenty of space to breathe and graze. They should be able to explore freely without bumping with one another, as that creates conflict for resources. Turn the space into something livable, mold the earth and give it form. Put in a little pond if you can afford the space, allowing geese and ducks to glide over the water.
It is of utmost importance that the water and the earth be separated. Spread trees and plants onto the pasture. Make sure that it is good. Give the flock proper shelter, to keep them warm and dry during storms and heavy rain. Make sure they have all the resources they require to thrive: nutritious food and clean water. Provide them with posts that they can use to scratch at their skin and softwood to practice ramming the horns on their heads, should they choose to.
Give a sheep everything it needs but make sure to keep it within closed borders. Nowadays, shepherds typically use electrified fences or long spans of barbed wire. In the old days, shepherds mainly free roamed their sheep, raising guardian dogs with the animals to protect them from predators and herding dogs to keep the flock under control.
Many raise sheep for money, profiting from meat, wool, milk, cheese, and the likes. It is crucial to maintain proper identification to flocks that they own. This is why sheep are usually branded with tags on their ears or numbers burned into their horns and wool. Shepherds who live near each other tend to see a few members of their flock moving to the others, sheep are herd animals and can easily be influenced by their own kind. Different breeds usually group together, but breed mixing is often done to get many variations of certain products, as some breeds are genetically more inclined to yield better tasting milk, or softer wool.
A good shepherd does not force the breeding of the herd nor hooking them up to tubes for sustenance. A sheep’s every action should not be controlled, the animal maintains an individual stature; call it the gift of free will, albeit maintaining control with fixed borders and keeping track with permanent brands.
The flock is managed as a united group, with each follower reinforcing the other’s obedience, shared will if you will. Do not forget to keep track of the pecking order, some shepherds even go out of their way and imprint on each and every lamb to reinforce its submission as a member of the flock.
Keep in mind that the sheep are alive, they can think, though stripped of constitution equal to the shepherd. It is aware of the shackles forced upon it by its kin, some take their time to warn the others, but no matter what, the sheep continues grazing the grass as if barren lands exist outside the fence bordering the farmer’s land. If it does not see greener pastures, then it assumes that all good exists only within their space.
Do not forget to separate the rams from the ewes and lamb. A ram is cruel and unforgiving, even a lamb not yet grown is not spared from endless violence and lust. If you do decide to mix them, do not put multiple rams in the same spot, they will often fight for resources, as they fail to see its abundance on neighboring fields. Territory matters to these creatures; duels may result in death, and that is contrary to the goal of making money and utilizing every bit of these creatures.
Overpopulation is a common occurrence within a flock, when more resources are being consumed than allowed to regenerate. Cull the sheep, reduce their numbers. Disobedient flocks must also be corrected, keep watch of their social hierarchies and subject the necessary members of the flock to butchery or drown them in gas chambers to force reorganization of the pecking order. You, as the shepherd, have the ability to restart your flock. Do not forget, however, to use every bit of the sheep that you culled, hell, even use it as a lesson for other flocks; maybe sheep have lasting memories, who’s to say.
Never forget your goal to use these animals for your own prospects. You raised them for harvest, not family. You built the borders around your land to keep them in check, you protected them so your investment would not be wasted. Affection was never your plan, money is, always will be. In time, you may choose to grow your business and increase efficiency, mass farming is good but not just yet. For mass farming to work you must have absolute control of the entire flock, leaving them with no ideas of breaking out or disobeying your laws.
Sheep will always follow the shepherd, but more than that, they follow other sheep. Influence is all that matters, maybe you’ll even attract wild sheep around your land into joining the flock. If your geography is optimal, take advantage of migration patterns to capture and integrate feral sheep into your own flock. This might prove difficult, however, due to the difference in pecking order, a possible solution is to obliterate the social hierarchies of wild sheep and introduce them one by one as a broken whole; observe “united we stand, divided we fall.”
The domestication of animals began in the wee days of agriculture, as farmers were able to afford investing excess resources long-term, for those that cannot be so easily acquired in such vast numbers. Society evolved and required a steady supply of resources without having to migrate seasonally, this also meant that other organisms, such as those used now in livestock had to adapt. Settlements chipped the natural habitats of indigenous species, leaving them but no choice than to embrace these new settlements as their new environments. Both men and animals became co-dependent, others would say mutualism, wherein they both benefit- although I find it to be more of a mutual parasitic relationship-wherein in the end, with or without each other, both die.
Why do both die in the end? Simple. Slowly, the shepherd and his brethren will have been molded to rely on this “resource”, unable to function without it, their system collapses. The sheep too would have evolved to be more pleasant to the shepherd, needing it to survive, unable to live without being sheared or else it cooks in its own coat.
Man raised sheep and became obsessed with His creation that disobedience made Him punish with death and gore. Yet, He has developed an addiction to the resources they yield, giving hope with a promise of sustenance and procreation, in exchange with their bodies. A promise that acted as fuel for illusions and obedience beyond biology. A promise of water and spirit, to erase and wash away the shortcomings of the flesh.
What is a shepherd without the sheep? What are we without being who we are due to brutality? To raise them for food is one thing, but to harvest their very soul is a crime against the very will we were provided. We could, you know, reset the universe, but We don’t. God is obsessed with this chaos, and man ceases to exist without His promise. His notion being redefined and interpreted in so many variations that made it impossible to make sense of Our reality.
We are but a parasite to their flesh, and they are parasites feeding from our dependence.
Let me put it this way, most of us are familiar with the phrase, “He made them in His image,” right? Now maybe, just maybe, They made Us in Theirs.