There’s Busy - and then there’s Sheep Busy

Between my “day job” as a cooperative extension advisor and county director, and my sheep ranching work, life has been exceptionally busy over the last six months. Research, teaching, and middle management responsibilities, all add up. On top of my “professional” life, moving water daily from mid-April until mid-October, feeding livestock guardian dogs daily all year long, and moving sheep once or twice a week, add up even more! As we stand on the cusp of December, I realize I’m tired of the non-stop running. I’m tired of being busy.

Much of my busyness, at least professionally, seems to be an attempt (futile, at times) on my part to balance my responsibilities and interests. As extension county director, I’m responsible for our local funding support. I manage our local staff and support our other advisors. And I try to do the things that drew me to cooperative extension in the first place - locally-focused research, teaching, and one-on-one work with ranchers in the counties I serve. But there are evenings when I get home and wonder what, exactly, I accomplished.

Lately, this busyness has affected my ability to enjoy raising sheep. Chores - whether morning or evening - seem like just one more thing I need to get done. I’ve always enjoyed the sights and sounds of turning my sheep into fresh pasture; lately, this has seemed like it’s just more work. I’ve enjoyed the annual cycles of grass growth, the changing of the seasons, the movement from breeding to gestation to lambing to weaning - and back again. But this fall, I’m tired. Just simply tired.

Lambing, as other shepherds will attest, is the busiest time of the shepherd’s year. As a pasture lambing operation, our lambing season consists of about 6 weeks of checking the flock three times a day (before my day job, on my lunch hour, and after my day job). But I love lambing season. At the end of each day, I can look back and see what I accomplished - the number of lambs marked, or the amount of fence constructed for next week’s grazing. Sami, no doubt, will remind me of the evenings when I stress about the weather, or the nights when I sleep on the couch so that I can get up and drive to the sheep every 3 or 4 hours during a storm. But the exhaustion, and the stress, are different for me. I feel like my work as a shepherd during lambing matters; sometimes I wonder about my work as a middle manager.

I guess one of the things I enjoy most about raising sheep is the combination of physical and mental work. I love working outside, with my hands, and with other animals (dogs and sheep). I also love thinking about how I can be a better shepherd - about planning my grazing, about being more efficient during lambing or shearing. When I think about my extension work, I realize that enjoy the same things - I love working outside (collecting data or teaching classes). I love thinking about - and discussing - ways that we can manage rangelands more effectively, ways that we can increase profitability in livestock production. I love work that makes a difference.

Ultimately, I suppose, I enjoy being busy when I feel like there’s a purpose to the work. I enjoy looking back over my day and seeing what I accomplished - marked lambs, or a stack of firewood; a full data sheet, or a successful field day. Being busy for the sake of being busy - I can do with out that. Meaningful work? Bring it on!