Bellwether

Shengifr

Shengifr, (pronounced Shengif, the “r”  is silent- he was named by 2 year old grandson Jasper) is our bellwether. A bellwether was defined originally as a wether, a castrated male sheep that leads the flock, often wearing a bell so that the shepherd can find the sheep when they are out on pasture or in the mountains beyond sight. Shengifr is a wether, but he doesn’t actually lead our flock because he never gets a chance to hang out with the ewes. He keeps track of the rams – moderates their behavior, tags along where ever they go.

The second definition for bellwether is a person who assumes leadership. Does that mean that our political leaders should be bellwethers? In 1980, musician and song writer Tom Paxton released a funny, protest record called The Paxton Report. One of the songs on that record,  We All Sound the Same, spoofed political leaders.  

"We'll fearlessly take our positions when we know how you feel
We've taken the polls, and we know it's the safe thing to do
We've studied the trends for the feelings that we're allowed to feel
We'll be out there leading, about two or three steps behind you."

Sound familiar?  I thought it was hilarious when I was 32 years old and have continued to make disparaging remarks about political leaders who need to look at the polls before they speak or vote. Today, I wonder if we really do want our leaders to be to be followers rather than leaders.

 

The third definition of bellwether is a person or thing that shows the existence or direction of a trend. Who are the bellwethers today? Are they  Patrisse, Opal, and Alicia, the women  who created the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013? Is it Brian Manley, the police Chief of the city of Austin, Texas, who said Austin police officers are not concerned about a person’s citizenship status and are instead “absolutely 100 percent focused on the safety of citizens.” Are they the hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens who are protesting the ban on people from seven nations which are primarily Muslim, who already have Visas allowing them to enter the United States, from entering the country. Is it Standing Rock Elder Brave Bull Allard who established a camp as a center for cultural preservation and spiritual resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. He gave people a space and a chance to consider the pipeline as a threat to the region’s clean water and to ancient burial grounds. Who is the bellwether? Is it an individual? A political system? An organization? A movement?

The real bellwether in our flock is not a wether  nor does she wear a bell. Waffle, a two year old ewe, was tamed by friends Budd and his daughter Kate. Waffle knows that good food comes from people and she eagerly greets each person entering the pasture. That means that people who visit the farm are charmed. Also, when Waffle rushes toward people, she draws the rest of the flock behind her into a new pasture or into the barn.  Both of those traits make her a valuable resource for our farm.

Waffle

Bellwether

“Walk, shepherdess walk, and I’ll walk too,

To find the ram with the ebony horn and the gold footed ewe,

The lamb with fleece of silver, like summer sea foam,

The wether with the crystal bell that leads them all home.”

(Eleanor Farjeon)

Yesterday, we lost an old friend. Dave buried Christmas in the compost pile in front of the barn. We will miss her.

Christmas was our bellwether. A bellwether is, traditionally, a wether, a castrated ram, who wears a bell and leads a flock of sheep. The shepherd knows where the flock is and if they are in trouble by listening for the bell. If the bell is ringing hard, the sheep are running and it’s very likely that something is chasing them. When he calls them home, he can hear their progress from the ringing of the bell.

Christmas was not a wether and she didn’t wear a bell, but she served as the bellwether for our flock. She was unafraid of people and when we walked into the pasture, she came to us. When we wanted to lead the sheep into a new pasture, Christmas was the first through the gate and the more cautious sheep followed her.

We will miss Christmas most for her friendliness. Christmas could be relied upon to welcome visitors bearing a handful of cheerios or corn. She’d nuzzle hands and baa encouragingly. The visitors were always enchanted. Sometimes the curious lambs would follow Christmas and they too would learn to appreciate visitors and the gifts they bear.

Christmas is gone, but Amy, a bottle lamb last year, joined Christmas when she greeted us at the gate, and will hopefully become our new bellwether. I’ll have to begin carrying cheerios in my pockets again.