The Journals of Martha E. McMillan

Sheep Farming and Shearing (1874 – May – August) Sara Bennett 2015 Sheep may seem insignificant and even silly to consider important but to Martha and James McMillan (also known as Mr. Mc.) sheep had great importance in their daily lives. Mr. Mc kept sheep as a large part of his farm. From 1867-1906 sheep lived on the McMillan farm. Martha writes on 16 April 1867 “Tuesday. Rain. Rain. James has been out all day making arrangements for his flock. There is no doubt of it but James is a shepherd in the highest sense of the term - a shepherd of sheep I mean (!) (!) (11)” (ed. Wood). Martha’s words show the importance of sheep to Mr. Mc and that the sheep claimed a lot of his time. Martha’s mentions of the sheep may seem like trivial references to farm life but knowing about caring for the sheep, the tools and process of shearing sheep, and washing the wool help readers see into Martha’s world and understand why Martha’s references to the sheep are important. In Martha’s time sheep dogs helped care for the sheep. Smart sheep dogs make the sheep think they decide where they want to go (Hartnagle-Taylor and Taylor, par. 4). Farmers use the Scotch Collie for herding sheep. The dogs ferociously protect the flock from intruders such as wolves or wandering wild dogs. The collies’ loyalty belonged to their masters and to their flocks (Hartnagle-Taylor and Taylor, par. 4). Martha does not mention Mr. Mc having sheep dogs but it would be logical for Mr. Mc to own a sheep dog or dogs. June 23 1868 Mr. Mc sold five hundred eighty-five ewes to a man from Illinois. It took them twenty-days to drive them there on foot (McMillan, Rankin 4). Such a sheep drive would be a nightmare without sheep dogs to aid the men in herding the large flock. Mr. Mc owned several hundred head of sheep pasturing them on four other farms beside his own (McMillan, Rankin 5). Mr. Mc’s sheep would take a lot of care, 74