Counting Sheep

audio: barrett golding / art: © jerry iverson

Shearing Sheep at the Hutterites (1989 27×36 oil on linen)

“Counting Sheep” follows a year in the lives of sheep ranchers, herders, and shearers. The radio show starts, ends and spends much of the middle with Roxanne Linderman. She and her husband Don run a small sheep ranch near the Bridger Mountains of Southcentral Montana.

Part One- Lambs:

“Intro- Early, Cold, and Outside” (0:40 mp3):

“What You’re Limits Are” (1:52 mp3):

“Hard Pushin’” (2:36 mp3):

Sheep herder (1990 38×36 oil on canvas)

Sheep-herders Chris Spogis and Patty Robinson talk about bugs, bears and being by oneself — all in a sheep’s work day.

Part Two- Herd:

“Great Deal of Patience” (1:59 mp3):

“Honeymoon in a Sheep Wagon” (1:53 mp3):

Sheep herder (1990 38×36 oil on canvas)

Roxanne awaits the shearers. Jim Moore, Jerry Iverson, and Jim Carr use their electric shears and strong backs to shave the sheep. They go in full-wooled; they come out bald.

Part Three- Wool:

“Sheep Up the Chute” (0:49 mp3):

“Rough Week” (3:08 mp3):

Feeding Sheep (1993 15×18 oil on linen on board)

Roxanne voice-commands her border collies, Price and Keeper, as they herd the sheep across a bridge. Then we walk to the Bone Hill (“every farm has one”), with an eye out for coyote.

Part Four- Canine:

“Panic Zone” (3:04 mp3):