The Wisdom of Sheep and other Animals by Rosamund Young

  

The Wisdom of Sheep and other animals

by Rosamund Young

first published 2023

This is a book of anecdotes about farm animals written by someone who has lived with them all her life.

The first story tells is of the winter of 1947, not something she lived through, but her grandparents and tells how the snow was so deep they had to dig a tunnel through the snow to the barn. It put me in mind of something my Mother told me, about a really bad winter in Kentmere where her father dug a tunnel through the snow to the village. Mum said that the snow came up the the upstairs windows and the house was a lot warmer, till the snow melted.

A lot of the time sheep are just white blobs wandering across the hills, but not in this book, here the sheep are individuals, as are the cows. In many ways, the animals are the ones in control with the people being blessed to share their lives.

The stories are full of humour and love, written from a lifetime of observation. I thought it was a book I could put down and pick up when I had the odd minute, but I found that I kept wanting to read one more story and another after that and it was disappointing when I got to the end of the book.

The author has written another book, “The Secret Life of Cows”.