‘Live and die by this’: Sheep shearing a spring tradition in Taos

...Martinez learned his trade from his dad when he was younger. And after 36 years in the business, he’s sheared wool from sheep in just about every Western state, for small gatherings like that in Taos as well as huge flocks on giant ranches. Martinez said his work is enjoyable, especially now that he mostly travels only in Colorado and Northern New Mexico. When asked if it is hard work, he said, “It’s hard if you don’t know how. But what work isn’t hard?” For such a proud tradition, shearing sheep is a quick and unceremonious affair. As a local rancher backed his trailer into the dirt-floor warehouse and directed his sheep into a cage, Martinez got situated in his back brace — tied off to a metal bar with rope to reduce the pressure on his spine. He grabbed one of the bigger sheep by the neck, plopped it on its butt and started cutting off its wool with a larger-than-normal pair of clippers. In just a couple of minutes, a pile of wool lay on the ground and the sheep ran back to huddle with the others in the corner. One of the smaller flocks belonged to Gesi Romero, of Llano Quemado. He had only four sheep Friday, but he recalled stories of his grandfather who once had a herd of 800 animals that grazed the llanos between his family’s home and Ojo Caliente, crossing the Río Grande via a little ledge not far from where the golf course is now. As Romero tells the story, pressure from the U.S. Forest Service forced his granddad to slowly sell off the flock over a half century ago. Even still, raising sheep is in his blood, he said. “We live and die by this,” he said. Romero came up tending to the sheep, most of them the same black-faced breed he brought to the ag center. Once or twice a year, his family slaughtered a sheep and had everyone over for a celebration. Nothing was wasted, he said, not even the tails — which they’d roast on a open fire just like a hotdog. “I like to say a prayer to the spirit, tell them thank you,” Romero said. Over the din of the shears and the banter of the other ranchers, Romero said one adage explains the culture of raising sheep in Northern New Mexico — “You can take my wife, but don’t touch my land, my water … or my sheep.”...more