Sheeperherders' fall gathering

Just off Highway 189 in southwest Wyoming, nine dirty men fought with more than a thousand sheep. The men slipped and slid in muddy earth, some muttered curses in their native language while others laughed. It was early October, winter was coming and the mud would only get slicker. The sheep needed to be pushed through a chute, dewormed, vaccinated and painted with a brand on their backs. At less than a year old, the sheep didn't understand that they should follow the animals in front of them through the chute. Some climbed on others' backs. Some tried to back up. Others jumped over the sides. One sheep made it over the wooden wall and sprinted aimlessly around the corral. Liber Guerra, one of the Peruvian sheepherders, ran after it, trying to grab it and often missing. "Run, young one. Run!" Pedro Rojas Castillon called after Liber. At 22, Liber was one of the youngest herders there, thus the brunt of many jokes. This gathering occurs every fall at Julian Land and Livestock, about five miles north of Kemmerer. The 20 or more sheepherders, all of them from Peru, bring their sheep down from the Bridger-Teton National Forest, up to 70 miles away. They work thousands of sheep, sending some to sale, sheering others and dividing them into herds for winter. When the work is finished, often near the end of October, two Peruvians at a time leave on horseback, pulling their wagons and herding nearly 2,000 sheep for an isolated winter in southwest Wyoming...more