While doing chores this evening I stopped to observe several flocks of geese making their nightly pilgrimage from their daily feeding grounds to the nearby pond. Although this is not an uncommon winter sight and after years of watching this procession go by at chore time it rarely catches my attention. However on this gray, blustery evening I had to stop and watch their intriguing behavior.
Maybe it was the wind gusts or maybe it was just indecision on the part of the leadership, but it seemed as if their group was trying to go in different directions and frankly not getting much of anywhere in the process. As I stood their and pondered this unusual behavior I soon realized that their behavior was not much different than ours. How you might ask? Well the answer is actually quite simple. We will go nowhere in the face of adversity if there is no clear-cut leadership and goals.
So as I watched our downy friends dance through the clouds I saw some amazing things happen. First the smaller groups flying outside of formation naturally gravitated towards the larger groups in formation. Once in formation the new additions seemed to rearrange the shape of the geese’s flight pattern into a new blob only to have it level out into a beautiful “v” shape quickly and efficiently. Then as you could see the geese physically start to struggle with wind gusts the leaders would change altitude to ease the load of their flock.
As I watched these geese fly away towards the butte I realized the simple lessons we can easily apply to our flock. First and foremost we need to bring our smaller groups/segments together to find a common goal to strengthen our industry. We need to be one “Oregon Sheep Industry”. By doing so it will spreadout our workload and give us a great constituency to get our word out. Secondly our leadership needs to know where they are going and how to effectively absorb all of the different segments by realizing everyone involved brings a value to the industry. Finally, in the face of adversity we must be flexible enough in our thinking to occasionally change course and still stick together as an industry.
Bottom line, by working together for a common cause we can make great strides! Maybe it is time to take a lesson from fine feathered friends and get our flock into formation! Are you game?
Oregon Sheep Connection 