23 May

We realized our plan had worked when we saw people with….

Posted by soec2b in Introduction.

SixTeen Sheep

This is our little flock, SixTeen of us

our faces on tshirts passing by. Our first impression of the bloke who stopped by one day outside our paddock was that here was a serious artist that wanted to paint us for posterity. We were quite happy to “pose” for him and he departed on good terms. He did not mention the fact that he intended to use the drawing on a tshirt. We have since agreed to that. Whilst we are not entirely happy with his choice of website name, www.bahbah4u.toctopus.com we have accepted that and are moving forward.

“Our  version”

The sheep says: Yes, we are all in on this, all 16 of us. We live down Cunnamulla way where we grass on a big property.

A while ago this car drove up and parked just in front of the fence. Out came a gentleman with a drawing board. He actually talked to us but none of understood what he was saying but we sort of nodded so I presume he took that for a yes and proceeded to draw us.

As we were all standing in a line we had to look over each others shoulders to catch a glimpse of his work and we were rather pleased when he attempted to show us the result but at the same time, silly as we are sometimes, we all ran away and, by the time we stopped and turned around he was gone! Just like that! Anyway,we were all in agreement that we wanted to be in on the drawing so hopefully we will see the result some time soon. Our little group of 16, (we call ourselves Six Teen Sheep) shall keep a look-out for passing tourists in case they are wearing “our” T-shirt. 

Remember Tennessee Ernie Ford and his signature song; Sixteen Tons ?

Here is “our” version.

 We were born one morning when the sun didn’t shine,

We stood up on shakylegs  and yes, we felt fine.

We are the Six Teen Sheep and  happy as few

And we love our mother, the big fat yew !

.Of course, let’s be fair and let Mr. Sander give his view as well;  As you can see he was driven by a commercial interest whilst we want “to make history”

“His view”

There are about 73 million sheep in Australia and out of those 16 have qualified to adorn the latest creation from BahBah4U, the Australian Bah-B-Q shirt.

This is the coolest Tee around at the moment and it comes in many shapes and form, Muscle Tshirt, Men’s Slim Tee, Regular, Classic, Tank Top, Promo and yes you can actually have the design on your coffee mug.

The Australian designer Hans B’s. inspiration came from the Silence of the Lambs, no, not the movie but the silence of a flock of sheep he saw on a recent trip to the outback of Australia. They were all lined up, they were all looking at him so the idea of the Bah-B-Q was born. However, I almost did not get away with it. The Six Teen Sheep were keen to put a few facts right as they said and I had to promise them to present “their case” on the internet. If you wish to buy the Australian Bah-B-Q tshirt, click here.

22 Nov

John Gone with the Wind !

Posted by soec2b in Climate change, Sheep and Cheese, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

There is a story in our flock about John, who lived in France at the time (around 1913 or so) used to be the problem kid in his flock. It got that far that in the end a veterinarian was called in and he quickly pronounced that John was a “ peter les moutons” or in our language a farting sheep ! It was so natural for him so if somebody asked him to make a breeze for him, he farted and all around him laughed. He was nicknamed “Le Patoname” and was well known in the area around Versailles.

 

John a.k.a. Le PatomaneWe know now that any of his remarkable “breezers” produced methanene that was 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat. This is important to the current generation but in those days it was more or less a laughing matter for the flock. However, you will find it was more significant than a joke only. It was also to become an important historical fact for all lovers of movies and this is where John or “Le Patoname “ inspired Victor Fleming. He served in the photographic section during World War 1, and acted as chief photographer for President Woodrow Wilson in Versailles, France. He often passed the paddock where John was going about his business and had many laughs at Le Patoname’s performance. Just before being sent back to the U.S. he took a walk to say good bye to Le Patoname but was told that he had “gone with the wind” a saying in France when something has died; love, passion, life etc. Back in America Margaret Mitchell had written a book which she called “Pansy” but she was persuaded to rewrite the title, one being “Tomorrow is another day”.In 1937 a discussion was held between Margaret Mitchell, Victor Fleming and David Selznick about the book, which was to become one of the most popular movies ever Victor Fleming talked about his time in France during a lunch break and and mentioned the sad story of Le Patoname who “had gone with the wind” That’s it “ exclaimed the producer, “that’s the name we should have for the movie” , “Gone with the Wind” So our dear cousin John or “Le Patoname” if you prefer ended up not only “gone with the wind” but also an inspiration to us all down here in Australia and we ourselves were to become the inspiration for another all time classic which had premiere in 1937. Guess the title. Judy Garland was the star.

30 Oct

The Original BahBahSheep Quartet

Posted by soec2b in Bah Bah Black Sheep, History, Uncategorized, Waltzing Matilda. Tagged: , .

 

 

Mention barbershop quartet and the image that comes to your mind is probably that of a singing group of four white men in straw hats och striped vests?  What many people don’t know is that these quartets originated amongst black men socializing in barbershops. Well, that’s one version  !

Let’s be clear about this. Let it come out in the open so to say; as it was in the open, during time of stress that our ancestors started singing quartets and sheepellas as we are used to call them. At the time there was a lot of suffering amongst our flocks as Australia was “riding on our back” as it was popularly expressed and one day you were surrounded by kins, the next they were all gone heaven knows where so a small group of 4 rams decided that the flock needed some moral inspiration and together they tuned up to what became the most popular song ever, Waltzing Matilda ( which you can read about at another post on this site ) which now, more or less is Australia’s unofficial anthem. So, that was the origin of the famous BahBahSheep Quartet which became very popular in the U.S. So, if you ever visit Australia make sure to call in at Cunnamulla and see us in action.

But many times history forgets and we do not want to be forgotten. ( Perhaps we should call our quartet, The Forgotten Sheep ) Not that we are concerned with copyright or anything but it is important to us and our ancestors that we get some sort of recognition. Our quartet is normally set up with one ewe and 3 rams in order to get that special sound that we rightly are so famous for. We sing original sheepellas from the Cunnamulla district in Australia.. They are mostly positive arrangements by Jimmy Shank who is our composer of contemporary songs with lyrics by Andrew Boyd Wether. We sing about the morning dew on the grass, we sing of happy memories and we sing about country life as it is in our part of the world. After 10 years of draught we have now also included Bah-Bah in the Rain in our repertoire as we’ve had a surplus of rain the last months.

11 Aug

Art, religion and politics

Posted by soec2b in Australian election, History. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Eine kleine bit of history today. We are taking evening classes here in the paddock and Sarah who is into history and art thought she should look up “sheep” in the encyclopaedia we have laying around here and up comes this woodcut called Christ and the Sheep Shed made  in 1524 by the Nuremberg artist Barthel Beham, one of the Little Masters.

 Sarah  was very pleased to note that we, the sheep did not listen to thieves and robbers so even in the “old days” we were held in high regards. The same sentiment applies today when we prefer not to listen to any politician ( be they real or not)  passing by; on their way to a town meeting for a bit of a spin. We feel sorry for the Australians who has to suffer under Labor spending up to a million on an outdoor shed for a school whilst our farmer puts one up for a couple of thousands. By the way, our t-shirts are available at www.bahbah4u.toctopus.com

 

The premise of this woodcut is based on a passage from the Bible, John 10:1-42. This passage articulates Christ as the shepherd, his followers as the flock, and all others as thieves. “All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved”. Barthel used characters in this scene that clearly show the Papacy as the “thieves”; they are climbing the sheep shed and entering through windows in the approach of a thief. At the top of the shed is the Pope, symbolizing his authority and domination over the rest of the church hierarchy. The shed is deliberately shaped by Beham to look like a church, with its steeple and cathedral-like windows, to avoid any confusion of what the scene attempts to depict. Christ is in the front doorway of the shed, as he is the ‘gate’ to be entered through. Also seen are peasants grovelling to the nobility, which demonstrates Barthel’s sympathy towards the peasantry. In the bottom-right corner of the woodcut people are gathered to buy indulgences, portraying the anxiety about salvation. In the background a crucifixion scene is created; what is strange is that it is less visible than the shed and the church hierarchy, showing the insignificance of the actions of Christ himself, and an emphasis on the use of indulgences in the Catholic Church. The scene created by Barthel depicts the mood of Germany in 1524 as a conflicted place between Protestantism and Catholicism, as well as the observations of the artist himself. His depiction of the Papacy as thieves is impractical, yet its reasoning is to exaggerate the situation to make the idea more influential.

26 Jul

Counting sheep, we’re getting tired of it!

Posted by soec2b in Uncategorized.

We have always been intrigued by the human’s frustration of not being able to go to sleep and we are fully aware of our involvement in this by letting them “count sheep”.

Here we go again, another sleepless night !

This service has been provided now for well over 2000 years !  If you look up “counting sheep” in the Wikipedia you will probably find that the first reference to this was in 1832. We big to differ, it was already on in biblical times. (Flocks pass `under the hands of him who counts them` (Jeremiah xxxiii, 13)

It is not commonly known that when a person starts counting sheep, one of us actually has to do the work for him/her!  Normally it is not too much of a bother but with the modern lifestyle there has been drastic changes in sleeping patterns. This is mostly caused by stress and financial worries and we have found in our survey that some of our “clients” counts sheep for up to 20 minutes and that is just too much for us.

 There is a school of thought that says you should try tackling the causes of insomnia before reaching for drugs to suppress its symptoms. We wholeheartedly agree! No drugs will improve your sleeping patterns but for a small fee, purchase a product, we will keep jumping for you, as long as you like !

 As an alternative we can now provide the following methods ( which does not involve us as the language is not common any longer ). Yan Tan Tethera is a rhyme used by shepherds to count sheep in many parts of England . Using this system we are sure that any insomniac will fall asleep within a very short time.

“Yan-tyan-tethera-methera-pimp-sethera-lethera-hovera-dovera-dick-Yan-a-dick-tyan-a-dick-tethera-a-dick-methera-a-dick-bumfit-Yan-a-bumfit-tyan-a-bumfit-tethera-a-bumfit-methera-a-bumfit-giggot”

 There is also the “Sleeping Sheep” method and this is what we prefer that all of you use. Imagine our flock standing in the paddock. Come on in, you’re amongst friends!

Start counting the sheep, whilst you walk around and not only do you get tired by the walking, you also get tired by the counting.

Sleep well !

16 Jul

Sheep Cheese, not only good but good for YOU!.

Posted by soec2b in Sheep and Cheese. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

We have some cousins, twice removed down in Tasmania who are into the dairy and especially cheese production. We jokingly call them  “Self propelled Cheese Factories,” .which is not far from the truth.

We know they are very docile and quiet tempered  and produce an awful lot of milk which they give away to the owners of the farm who in turn produces some of the best sheep cheeses in Australia. As you will appreciate I haven’t tasted any of those cheeses myself  but I’ve heard through the “sheep-wine” that customers visiting the farm goes ‘mmmmm’ and ‘mmm’again when they taste the Ewe Bewety and Blue by Ewe.

 We have always been in touch with our relatives wherever they are stationed and they often ask for our advice which is given freely, So, we were all pleasantly surprised ( and proud ) when our relatives in Epping, Victoria dedicated a cheese in our honour and called it The Merino. The farmer (where we reside) brought one home recently and we heard him praising the cheese for being perfect for pasta, risotto and shaved on salads.

 We also have relatives over in Nannup, Western Australia and another flock in Cygnet River, South Australia and another one up in Queensland as well as Victoria but we have not had any contact with them but we know that all of them are involved in award winning cheese production.

Not only good, but GOOD for you !

 As you know, we are Merinos so we concentrate on our fleece, our golden fleece but are happy to know that our relatives all over the place are at the fore front of excellent products. Did I mention one of our bi-products, click here.

16 Jul

Sheep more intelligent than previously thought

Posted by soec2b in Uncategorized.

We have, it seems, been underestimating ovine intellect. While apparently mindlessly ruminating, sheep could in fact be pondering on long-absent flock-mates or even shepherds, report Keith Kendrick and colleagues at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, UK, in a Brief Communication in Nature.

By presenting sheep with images of 25 pairs of sheep faces and teaching them to associate one of each pair with a food reward, they trained them to recognize individual faces. Then, by measuring activity in regions of the sheep’s brain associated with visual recognition, they found that sheep can remember up to 50 sheep faces, even in profile. The animals can also remember a familiar human face. Kendrick’s group found that only after more than two years absence do the memories start to fade. It’s possible evidence for ‘emotions’ in sheep, the researchers suggest, and may have implications for animal husbandry.

Yes, we do recognize faces dude!

 What’s new ! I remember this very well indeed says Sherlock, one of the elders in the flock. Before coming out to Australia in 2002 he had actually partaken in this study and had a good laugh when he read that “we could in fact be pondering on long-absent friends”.  “Nothing of the sort”, says Sherlock –“. We were just mini-ruminating about the fact they were doing this survey.”

 And when Keith (yes we normally call them by first name as there are so many of these surveys) walked up to me and presented, I think, images of 25 pairs of sheep faces I thought he had gone troppo. They were all friends of mine, rams, welters and ewes, some of them I had known for years.  What was I to do, I kept nodding and he kept feeding me corns so in the end I was completely filled up and had to go away. I felt dizzy and had difficulties in keeping my balance. This is when some other scientists “wired me up” and I saw a parade of faces from my younger days, old class mates, family, old flames so I thought the end was near. I was just waiting to say the words, “Beam me up ! “  when they took the wires off me and  the images disappeared and I was still alive.

 I’ve have had these images recurring now for well over 12 years but they seem to slowly recede from my memory . No wonder, with age and distance everything gets a bit blurry. With those words Sherlock put on his tshirt and retired.

13 Jul

The History of Sheep and…humanity.

Posted by soec2b in History. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

I’m not trying to rewrite history here but we,  ( that is us, Sheep) helped make the spread of civilization possible.  How was this?   Well as everyone knows humans originated from Africa and from there, like 75000 years ago they wandered north due to climate change in Africa and some of them settled down in what now is called Middle East. Some continued on and ended up as Aborigines in Australia and others settled in Melanesia, Polynesia, Asia and Europe and the Americas.

 However we were there before all of them enjoying the rich grass of Mesopotamia, especially between the rivers of Euphrates and Tigris and seeing the poor buggers arriving from Africa without any warm clothing ( it can be cold in the Middle East in the winter) we found a solution we had been looking for quite some time.  We needed our fleece to be sheared as it was uncomfortably hot in the summers. So one of our forefathers, Abraham who was a sort of magician as well, took one of the immigrants aside and looked him into his eyes and transferred the thought into this bloke. When he woke up from the trance he walked out and told everybody around him that he had a great idea, “ Let’s shear the sheep”! Whooaa! Everybody were impressed by this genius and we could not help but to smile a little as we were the one’s getting a “haircut”.

The birth of Sheep Shearing !

Well this opened up completely new frontiers both for us and the “Ethiopians” as we called them but later they turned into Hebrews and they became great shepherds and together all of us are mentioned extensively in the Old Testament. At one stage we had employed David to look after us as we did need protection from “unwanted elements” and there is a reference to David in the Old Testament which reads as follows: “The shepherd of the Old Testament is found to be both a leader and a companion to his sheep”. (1 Sam. 17:34-37  David was protecting us). A few years later, around 1 AD the people began to call themselves sheep which was a bit unnerving but this is also mentioned in the O.T. “It is Jehovah who provides for his sheep Ps 100:3: “We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.”  We did relax after a while when we realised they would not share our diet.

 Our herds grew as well and some of us went with the “Ethiopians”  who had now turned into Persians, Romans and Greeks and the Romans in particular whose skin turned whiter and whiter the further north we travelled. I presume it had something to do with sunlight. Some of the Roman entrepreneurs, there were quite a few of them, established a woollen manufacturing company  in Winchester, England as early as 50 AD.

 Just as humans changed into Whites, Blacks, Reds and Yellow so did we change and in our family we have always been Merinas, producing the finest diameter wool fiber,. One of our forefathers ( Adams ) who was a Laodician at that time,  went to Rome during the rein of Claudius, 41 to 54 AD and was introduced to a Tarentine lady from Rome ( Ewe) and their first child was named Merino and as the saying goes, Adamus came up with the name of Me ( after himself) and rino ( after a nearby rhinosaurus which had impressed all Romans with their strength). Legend has it that Ewe did not like this at all and did not baaah at him for days.

 Later, during the dark ages, our family disintegrated. It was only when the  Saracens conquered Spain early in the eigth century that we once again flourished.   With their guidance, ( and some from us ) a wool export trade was established with North Africa, Greece, Egypt, Byzantium and Constantinople.  When the Saracens were finally expelled in the fourteenth century, Spain lost its world trade and thousands of weavers and others engaged in the manufacture of wool were banished.

We  remained in Spain and were a rich source of income for the country.  Income from the wool trade helped to finance the voyages of Columbus and the Conquistadors (and some of us were onboard ).  Guarding her source of wealth closely, Spain refused us to travel outside the country until  1786 when some of us crossed into France and had a great time with some ladies on an estate called Ramboulillet. The result was stunning, the Rambouillet strain of the family is considered one of the most desirable in the world not only for their wool but their fine bone structure.

There is of course much more to tell but that will be for another day. I just felt that I should mention our right place in history. We haven’t always been looked up in a paddock.  ( As recalled by Sally ).

OK,  perhaps I should also mention that in 1797 some of our clan was invited by an English Army Officer to join him on his trip to Australia. From these small beginnings in New South Wales we have grown to the famous Australian Merino that is so cherished by our Nation. Oh yes, I should also mention The Shop

12 Jul

PETA and Mulesing

Posted by soec2b in Uncategorized.

There is one point we would like to clear up. We have a second year law student in our midst, William or Bill for short and he has drawn our attention to an organisation in the U.S. called PETA who for it seems, pecuniary interest are attacking us and our  industry,

They say sheep are “living yarn factories” that are “denied everything that is natural and important to them”. Guess what, we are living yarn factories, that’s our business and we produce some of the finest merino wool in the world. Also, far from being denied anything that’s natural and important to us, we rather enjoy our life here at Cunnamulla. Being able to walk around freely in our paddock eating the suburb Mitchell grass is, in our opinion one of the best deals available these days. .

And now to the delicate matter of  mulesing and, according to William or Bill for short, this is the main  reason for PETA’s attack. . We used to have and in some instances still have breech strike amongst our population and this has caused a lot of stress and even premature death amongst us. So in the early 1930s Uncle Harold was one of the first merinos to find out what mulesing was. “Extremely painful” he says, “ I tried not to scream too much, it was all over in a minute or two but my father had told me of the horrors of flystrike so I had decided to try out this new approach. I know that farmers hate mulesing too, but leaving one of us  to die from fly-strike is a fate much worse than mulesing.”

The opinion amongst us is that mulesing has been going on for too long and the alternative is now on the horizon.  After all, we are in the 21st Century. The best in my opinion is The Clip. It gives a result like mulesing but without an open wound and with significantly less pain. The skin and the clips fall off within a couple of weeks. We are definitely not interested in any sort of chemical injections.  

So, PETA to us is equal to Politicised Environmental Turmoil Authority. Nothing good will come out of it, just a small group that frightens some of the big players who in our mind has missed the train. Surely it is better to have fine merino wool than synthetic fibres in your clothing? Am I right or not? . Why not buy a fine woolen tshirt?

We are the true environmentalists. We produce an amazing fibre, soft and durable and ticks every environmental box for sustainability.

We provide the best merino wool for your comfort!

So we shall continue our slow free life in the paddock, enjoying soft beautiful green Mitchell grass under our feet and enjoy the protection of our farmers who only have our best at heart. Well, apart from loving us which they naturally do, they also have to look after us in order to survive, won’t they?

11 Jul

United we stand

Posted by soec2b in Australian election, Politics. Tagged: , , , , .

There is a rival group amongst our flocks which calls themselves The Flock Party or TFP for short. Up till now their leader has been  a young ram called Tudd and his deputy Yulia  has caused havoc not only within the group but also to his supporters in the AWU (Australian Woolgrovers Union) and many other groups.

We knew there was something going on the other day when we saw the Flock party pushing their leader to the front when the farmer came down to collect a ram for the “trip to you know where” ( we really don’t want to discuss this as we’ve heard horrible stories where that trip actually takes us). Obviously Tudd was in a panic and tried to get back into the middle of the flock but too late, with a mighty push from Yulia and her closest friend who, for some reason is called the Swan  saw “The Young Leader” being loaded onboard the old truck and taken away whilst the rest of the “gang” flocked around Yulia and, it seemed to us, they were actually quite obscene in their praise for her.

The King is dead, Long Live the Queen !

 To our surprise Tudd was returned by the farmer in the afternoon after “the one way journey” and we heard some muttering from the farmer like “ to thin, no meat etc.” so he’s back on pasture but outside the Flock, if you know what I mean. Also now wearing a t-shirt from bahbah4U

Konrad, the sage in our group called us together and gave us some wise words. -”See how it goes if you don’t stick together eh? Let it be a lesson to you youngsters. I can assure you that Yulia in the Flock Party is only a Sheep-on-a-String at the moment and I can only emphasise the importance of being united behind a strong leader, as we are behind you”.

Here he turned and looked straight into the eyes of our strong leader, Antonius who, with a mighty Baaah made us all proud.

7 Jul

Terrorist in the Paddock !

Posted by soec2b in Politics. Tagged: , , .

We have never had any problems amongst our flocks that is, until recently. Someone high up and completely ignorant of the world had decided that some “foreign” sheep should be relocated to this area and to make it even worse, in the paddock next to us. Let me make it perfectly clear, we have nothing against immigrants from anywhere although some of us hold  the opinion that multiculturalism is not working, not the way to go.  So personally I was not surprised after a couple of weeks when the problems started. 

 There are a couple of rams and I believe two of them are wethers but the rest are 30 ewes and they all wear face masks and in the beginning even all covering black dress but I think it became to hindersome for them.!  Jeremiah, one of our teenagers said they looked like Ned Kelly.

A limited view of life !

We were intrigued and tried to talk to them but to no avail, the kept to themselves and the male honcho made it perfectly clear that they were not interested in any assimilation into our society. So why did you come here we asked, if you not like it. All I could hear was some mumbling and words like taking over, you’ll see. 

 Fait accompli I think it’s called. We tried to live with it but now their flock has grown and I fear they will spill into our paddock and their little lambs, dear little ones are subject to indoctrination and worst of all and, this is really horrible and I thought it would never happen here, one of their lambs were fitted out with a “training “suicide west and pretended to blow up the fence that separates us. Fortunately one of William’s ( called Bill) agents had managed to infiltrate the flock so we had expected some sort of attack but not as cowardly as this, using a young innocent lamb . Can you believe it. If not check out bahbah4U

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