It's All Trew: Sheep often taken for granted

My favorite sheep story took place after the railroads arrived allowing livestock to be shipped to market by rail. Special facilities were built to load herds onto rail cars. Dust clouds rose to the skies during shipping season as crews worked around the clock to load the animals. Almost every sheep loading facility featured a very important employee living nearby, usually a pet ram who was raised on a bottle by a young boy. Most were named "Sancho" and called a Judas Goat, the animal was used to lure the sheep and goats aboard the rail cars. When ready to fill a car Sancho was turned into the pen to be loaded. He milled around to get acquainted then led the herd into the car. When full, the doors were closed and Sancho worked his way back to the door to be let out to load the next car. The owner of this talented, hard-working animal was given a dollar, maybe, for the service and the star of the show was given a "chaw of tobacco or a few tailor-made cigarette butts" which he purely relished. Now just how cheap can wages get?...read more