Introducing our featured employee of the month…Two the Ewe.
What kind of name is Two, you ask?
Well, when she came to us initially, she didn’t have an ear tag to identify her. Being new to sheep-farming and not having an established labeling convention, we simply labeled our tag-less sheep according to the sequence in which we tagged them. Two was the second ewe we tagged, hence the name.
Little did we know how that trifling act would alter the trajectory of her life.
From that moment on, her aim has been to become number one.
Stand at the corner of their paddock, and it will be her nose pointing the way, ready to lead the others to greener pastures.
That’s how she sees it anyway. The reality is her ambitions are a bit more selfish — to have the first pick of the fresh weeds (never mind the fact that every other sheep follows on her heels, giving her only a split-second advantage).
This self-seeking assertiveness does have some advantages, though.
When the sheep do breech their fencing (alas, it happens) and go for a tour-de-farm, Two is the easiest to coax with a bucket, and once she is on the move, others follow.
For that reason combined with her attentive mothering and consistent twinning, we tolerate her impatient pushiness, but not without some discipline.
Of all the sheep, Two has likely gotten the most zaps on the nose from the electric fence.
Oh well.
She knows what she wants and has the courage to pursue it.
Perhaps that’s something we all can learn from her.
Keep thriving!
Ben Rosemont
PS: There are a number of other model employees I could have called out for this first issue of employee-of-the-month, but Two never would have let me live it down…and I doubt I could have pulled the wool over her eyes. 😛