Disappearing Shepherds

Who is herding sheep anymore? I went to Solon livestock near Letha, Idaho where the Solons were shearing 7000 head of woolly sheep as they prepare flocks for spring grazing turnout. Owner Harry Solon Profiles the sheepherders who work for him. “One of the problems here in the US, there just is not as many shearers around as there used to be.It’s kind of like sheep herders. There’s not a heck of a lot of US sheepherders left so most of the shearers that come in are foreign shearers. This is a seven man crew, Cliff Hoopes is the shearing boss and is American, there is Isaiah who was a kid that is just starting out, he's an American, but all the other guys are foreign. We’ve got some guys from New Zealand, a guy from Australia and a young man from Japan of all things. Traditionally we used to run 10,000 head but we have had some forest allotments that have been closed down and we had to eliminate some sheep because of that but we are going to sheer 7000 head and I will have 11 guys tied directly to the sheep. That includes my sheep foreman, tenders and sheep herders.”