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In Parkston, South Dakota, Brenda feeds on? of her orphan lambs; and singles out one of her favorite ewes in the flock that she tends.
home, wagging their tails behind, as the nursery rhyme so confidently assures.
?They wouldn?t have sense enough to find their way home,? she declared. Although stopping short of the word ?stupid," she did allow that that her ovine charges can do some pretty silly things if she?s not around ? like getting their heads caught in fence holes and following drifts in the snow till they pile up on top of one another.
?They have such a strong herding instinct that they?ll follow their leader anywhere, even into a brick wall if that?s where he happens to go.
?You can see how I have to work 12 hours a day to keep them out of trouble.?
When not guarding her charges, Brenda is shearing wool, trimming hooves and grooming her prize sheep for shows.
?Getting ready for the shows is fun. We wash the sheep with Ivory soap, put baby oil on their faces so they?ll shine, and clip and fluff out their wool.?
ALL of this means that Brenda works sunup to sundown, often in freezing temperatures and with few holidays.
Why?	?	?
?It's the love of the life. No one would work so hard unless they really loved what they were doing. I?m crazy about sheep, and in spite of being a city girl, I discovered I love the farming life.?
No one took her seriously when she first began looking for sheep-herding jobs during her senior year at LSU. It took six months of advertising in the National Wool Growers Magazine and some help from LSU graduate Link Abney, director of the sheep divsion of the Iowa State Department of Agriculture, to land the job in South Dakota. ;
AND she became an overnight celebrity in the little town of Parkston, where she?s famous as the
girl from New Orleeeenz.
?Tv? been asked a million times why I would leave home ? the sunny South ?. to come all the way tip to South Dakota to herd sheep. People up there can?t: imagine that I could be that Intested in sheep.?
She originally wanted to be a veterinarian but got hooked on sheep when she took part I in a livestock show at LSU and they gave her a sheep to tend and groom.
?From then on, I knew I wanted to specialize in sheep.?
She was the only member of her class to do so. ?Sheep just aren?t popular,? she admitted. ?They have a reputation for being hard to work with. They were the real underdogs at school. Most people in animal science prefer horses or cattleor even pigs. Sheep are supposed to be temperamental and stupid.?
She, however, maintains they are merely sensitive and shy.
?They are such resourceful animals. They can live off of anything, and they feed and clothe us. j:
?Of course it takes a certain! type of person to work with them. You?ve got to have a lot of patience. Sheep as a rule aren?t overly friendly, and you have to spend a lot of , time with them to establish ai relationship so they?ll trust you. They have to know you. Otherwise, they won?t let you near them.
?And there is nothing, absolutely nothing in this world, cuter than a baby lamb.?	!I
BRENDA is eminently qualified to make that last statement; she helped deliver almost a thousand lambs this past winter and spring.
?You?ve got to know what you're doing in assisting ewes at lambing,? says midwife Brenda. ?Sometimes the babies are in the wrong position, and you have to help get them right. You have to be sure the mother does her job ? cleans the lamb and pushes its side to start it breathing. Sometimes you have to encourage the mother to accept her baby.? Most ewes are good mothers and
very protective of their young. But occasionally one will abandon her ; offspring. And who do you think steps in?
?Right now, I'm caring for 45 orphans,? Brenda said on her recent visit. ?I have to bottle-feed them every four hours. When tfiey get big enough, I'll switch them to an automatic feeding machine.?
The mortality rate for orphan lambs is usually high, but so far Brenda hasn?t lost a one.
Does she have any favprites?
??I do become attached to certain . ones,? she admitted. ?Usually the yearling rams. They are so friendly. They like to have their heads scratched, and each one has a different personality. Rams, for some reason, are much more outgoing than ewes. But you have to watch them. They will butt you every chance they get. Just in fun, of course, or to show their masculinity and power. I almost went through a wall once when I turned my back on one I was grooming for a show.?
BRENDA admits she?s ?a little bit inhibited by my size? (5-3, 120 pounds). ?But believe me, I?ve developed muscles I never knew I had. I can haul bales of hay and alfalfa just as easily as the men can, and they treat me as an equal. There are no male chauvinist pigs on our sheep farm.?	;i_
^ However, in spite of having ail the sheep she could possibly want to take care of, she confesses that she does miss having a social life.
?Up there, there just isn?t any,? she complained, ?j?m in bed every night at 8:30 so I can get up at 5 the next morning? (needless to say, she doesn't have to count sheep in order to fall asleep).
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?i! f " ? ' j; There are f?w young people in the sheep- farming areas.
?Ironically, the kids up.there have left the farm to go to the big cities. So there aren?t many people my age around.?	?	f
She?s found South Dakota a friendly and hospitable place, how-ever.	.	,r.
?It's a beautiful state, And the people are wonderful. There are only 600,000 in the whole state, and most of them are farmers. I was surprised by how njce. and friendly they are. In New Orleans, everyone is too busy.?	,
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ONE of these days, she would like j:;.....;,, to return to Louisian?! ? but ^ 4i only if "she can continue being-a modern Bo Peep. ;| ? '1| ?There are not a lot, of sheep i: , farms in Louisiana. People here just don?t think sheep, partly because of; ; ^ the weather; It presents parasite and foot problems. J But the wx Louisiana Native is a very good 'Jj$ij breed, and I strongly believe sheep [ could go big here. Right now, thearo is no marketing outlet for them."
Louisiana actually ranks 36th in the nation in sheep farming. Texas r is first.	?	;	?	-i.-	i..-itr
When she?s had enough experb ^ ^ ence, Brenda hopes to manage a j j sheep farm or even own one.. ;	..j
How about marriage? ..	; .	^
^ ._i;?l hope that?s part of the future fbr-p$!i me," she said with a grin. ?But it will r ' have to be with someone interested in sheep.? -Single shepherds, take hotel.kv.^:
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Ed. Note: Elsie Martinez isa^New Orleans free-lance writer.
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Modern Bo Peep uses truck to move uhd&p from pasture to pasture,
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