No Little Bo Peep!

It was one of those tight travel days. We hadn't expected to stay so long at the Crannog Visitor Center and Google had us arriving at exactly 4:00 for an experience that everyone said that you could not be late for. Of course, driving through twisty Scottish pasture roads, 3 of our 4 kids started feeling nauseous. Worse, I was averaging 30 mph and Google somehow said that the speed limit was 60 mph. Nevertheless, even missing a few turns, we just made it.

I particularly enjoy seeing a master who is skilled in their trade. But when I saw the 40 person tour bus ahead of us at the farm near Kingussie, my expectations for the sheep dog experience dropped dramatically. I braced myself for an odd mid-Scotland tourist trap, taking advantage of rich Americans trying to get a "real Scottish experience" - I could not have been more wrong.

We were directed to a parking spot by 13 year old Tristan. He is the son of multiple generations of shepherds and according to his dad, Neil, he is quite a shepherd in his own right. But like many 13 year-olds, when doing the mental math to calculate our entrance fee, he had to stop to recalculate our price. It gave me pause to think that in a different time and different world, what my boys might have been.

Neil, the main shepherd, was a gritty man. It was clear that he lived and breathed close to the land. No nice introductions. No polite, "this is the best place to see the action." It was time to work - move his sheep from one pasture to another. The crowd, there for observation, should be able to figure things out on its own.

There were 11 or more dogs circling around the edge of the pasture and the sheep were a good four or five hundred yards away, some over a ridge and completely invisible to us. With two whistles and a foreign sounding vocal utterance, Neil sent one and only one dog out to corral the sheep. The dog was out in a flash. The other dogs waited with baited breath to hear when it would be their turn.

In his mind, I think Neil saw us a pupils and his goal was to introduce us to his craft. His manner commanded attention - few words and we were supposed to listen carefully. I think he would have spoken the same gruff way teaching his kids. The message clearly was - this is something you need to learn - listen carefully.

While the first dog sped over the landscape, Neil spoke to us about how the dogs. How they loved their work. How they were trained to listen and obey. How it was important to conserve their energies until the right time.

He introduced each dog by name and demonstrated how each dog knew his particular whistle. He could send dogs out at a full sprint and with a whistle or utterance would have them drop to the ground and stop.

Before we knew it, the sheep herd of approximately 30 sheep was being driven over the hill coming directly towards us at full speed by the border collie who was sent out 5 minutes earlier. With a series of whistles and commands, the dogs surrounded them and stopped them 15 feet in front us us. I felt as if I was watching a virtuoso play his instrument. He could direct the dogs to drive the sheep through a "gate" during competitions. He showed us this by making a gate of two dogs lying down. On his command, the sheep were lined up by the dogs. Typically, he brings only one dog out with him to work the sheep; having all eleven was putting on a bit of a show for the benefit of the audience. Even writing this, it was hard to get my mind around all the directions and commands which all seemed to be happening simultaneously. You have to be incredibly talented in navigating in three dimensions to be directing the dog from across the field to go left or right depending on where you want the sheep moved.

The sheep were driven into a pen and a single sheep was separated out to Neil by a dog. He then spoke about the importance of sheep to people and to the land. While he showed the use of a shepherd's crook to control sheep, he put the single sheep on his back between his legs and proceeded to shear the wool. Many of the visitors got a chance to put their hands to the shear (including Dave!). Again, his manners were more of a master explaining a lesson to a student than of this being a demonstration. Even while walking all of us through the process of manually shearing a sheep - not too close today because the winter was coming, it may have taken a grand total of 10 minutes.

Like any master, he spoke about the importance of learning new skills every day, the importance of practice and fitness, and the importance of caring deeply about your work. He spoke of a shepherd to his sheep. He is personally responsible for their welfare and his dedication and care for them was palpable. Tending the sheep came first and foremost, it determined how many days you worked and how long. There's no back up and no substitutes and you don't leave a single sheep behind. He related how he had been preparing to go to a funeral for a family member but he received the call that a sheep was on it's back. He needed to help it and changed back into work clothes, took care of the sheep, then was able to go back, change and attend the funeral. Truly a biblical perspective on the calling of a shepherd. Really great lessons to hear.

He was passionate about how sheep are the best animals. There are over 30 products that can be made from sheep. The oil that naturally helps their wool stay waterproof over the winter can be harvested. He enjoyed the irony that he can sell the lanolin oil to a company who will make Vitamin D supplement pills for vegans. They won't eat meat he said, but they'll eat pills made from the oil of sheep.

I only learned Neil and Tristan's names at the very end of our stay. The tour bus had left and another was on the horizon. It was neat to hear his personal story about waiting many years to become the head shepherd at this farm; wanting to be a shepherd like his father. How his wife who had come from Denver with a goal to become a shepherd and had succeeded immensely. He said that his daughter was one the best shepherds he had ever seen, even being only a teenager.

Future Sheep Dog and Shepherd?

It was particularly interesting to hear his personal frustrations. The environmentalist control over what birds could be hunted had apparently caused an explosion of crows in the area. In his opinion, they didn't understand the local issues nearly so well as the peoples who lived and relied on the farmlands. He was equally as bothered by government bureaucrats who made so many poor decisions about growing trees for wood chips for power generation instead of for wood products and how they were forcing more trees to be grown on pasture land instead of re-using the land the old trees were grown on.

This trip had probably been one of my personal highlights of our entire trip here and one that I will never forget!