Yesterday the man and I drove 8 hours to Utah to pick up a gorgeous, fullblood, registered Dorper replacement ram and some fatso ewes. We drove back today and right before dark, about 15 minutes from our farm, we saw something amazing, and met someone unbelievable, Javier.

There is a dirt road cutoff at the Blue Mesa lake which takes about 45 miles off our trip, and gets us back on blacktop about 4 miles from home. I looked over and saw hundreds and hundreds of white things, moving.

We were shocked to see so many and it was so similar to the sheep festival in Switzerland, as some of these sheep had bells on.

There were three dogs, an Akbash and 2 border collies, and one sheep herder.

He came over to the truck and I showed him our sheep in the trailer. He kind of laughed because his sheep were massive wool sheep. I asked him how many sheep he herds and he said 1023. He earlier in the season had over 2300, herding them all by himself, and then they split the herd. I can’t believe how in the world he counts them all, and he said that the white Akbash has not lost one sheep to coyotes, bears or lions. He walks with the sheep for hundreds of miles a season, has a small trailer he sleeps in at night. The trailer I think he said he moves about every three days, depending on enough grazing for the sheep.

His english was a good as my Spanish, muy malo, but our excitement to tell and hear everything sheep was enough for us to understand much. He is from Peru, studying to be a vet, and has been in Colorado for three years and will return to Peru next May.

I don’t think he has seen or talked to many humans for quite a long time, and he was a delight to talk to.

We will return to the mountain tomorrow at 6:30 and take him to our farm for dinner with us and visit a lot more. Thank goodness Jackie is here with us and he will be able to translate everything.

A truly remarkable person and we are all excited for tomorrow night.