Asher and Kim, The Evolution Of Kindness

The rest of the sheep were already down the hill and grazing in the north pasture with Fanny and Lulu.

But it takes Kim longer to get there.  She’s an old ewe and limps on her hind leg.

This morning Asher was keeping Kim company.  He stayed behind, walking with her as she made her way down the hill.

Since she was still close to the barn, I called her back to get some grain.  She turned around and ran to the barn.

Asher followed.

Asher knows he’s not going to get grain, yet he chose to follow Kim and wait for her  instead of joining the other sheep who were already grazing.

When Kim was done with her grain, she and Asher walked down the hill together to go graze with other sheep.

Asher and his twin Issachar are gentle wethers (neutered male sheep).

They break up the sheep when they’re butting heads by just stepping between them. And they look after Kim  who is old, and at this point in her life,  often needs some protecting.

Asher and Issachar were bottle -ed because their mother rejected them. That how they ended up on Bedlam Farm.  My former shearer, Liz,  who raised them couldn’t bear to send them to market and asked if I would take them.

Often bottle-fed sheep can become a nuisance or even dangerous because they attach too closely to humans.  But Asher and Issachar seem to have taken on the best qualities of both sheep and humans.  Looking out for the flock and defending the weaker sheep instead of bullying their way through life.

I do wonder if the other sheep (I’m thinking of Robin and Constance who can both be more aggressive) learn from them.

I hope so, to me that is true evolution.