Carol. I watched this movie using streaming on my iPad. Fantastic! Thanks for the suggestion. Had to show some of the good parts to my wife.
Beautiful scenery. The movie's pace forces you to slow down and do things on their time. Very effective. My favorite scenes were the one where the herder is fed up and cussing up a storm, then calls his friend from a mountain top (to get cell reception) and tells him all his woes. Hilarious and also--you feel for him. In both cases, the scenery is incredibly beautiful. Also, the older cowboy seems to take things in stride...always talks nice to the animals and seems to have a great affinity with them, his dog and his horse. I tend to be more like him... The streaming version has no commentary available, so I'll have to get the DVD. Not being a rancher, I had a few observations/questions which some of you might like to answer: 1] when the ewes are all lambing, and they are trying to graft that little ram onto a lambing ewe, why toss it from a few feet away, on top of the other newborn like that? seems unnecessarily harsh. 2] Also there's a scene where a ewe is just giving birth and they appear to be putting another lamb in there right at the same moment and touching the lambs together. I imagine this is to try to graft the other lamb onto this mother? 3] the one lady who is trying to get the ewe into a lambing pen with her newborn, is gently dragging the newborn across the ground into the pen. Is that to leave a scent trail? I have no problem getting ewes into a pen by simply placing the lamb in there, and applying some pressure from behind, to urge the mother in. 4] They appear to be putting a Onesie on one of the orphaned lambs, and make comments that the ewe will "think her dead newborn is back to life". Is that a lamb pelt from a newly dead lamb, or something made of cloth? (The streaming video is not that clear) All in all very enjoyable. I'll be ordering the DVD so I can see a clearer version of it, and to get the DVD commentary. -Michael, Perino Ranch Blackbellies. On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 8:10 PM, Carol Elkins <celk...@critterhaven.biz> wrote: > I watched a good movie called "Sweetgrass," available from Netflix at > http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Sweetgrass/70128353?trkid=226870 > > Actually, I watched it twice, once without the audio commentary and then > again with the audio commentary turned on. The movie is a documentary about > a family of Montana sheepherders as they drive their flock of 3000 sheep up > into the mountain range and then back down when the 2002 grazing season is > over. I think everyone who raises sheep will be captivated by the movie. It > documents the last sheep trailing done in this area of Montana, the end of a > 104-year ranching tradition. People with herding dogs will enjoy watching > the dogs on the trail. People with LGDs will enjoy watching the LGDs protect > the sheep against grizzly bear. There is very little dialog, and what there > is is often streams of profanity by one of the men herding the sheep. But > the sheep noises are really important to the film, and you miss all of this > with the commentary turned on. That's why it is worth watching twice. The > commentary explains a lot of what is going on. If you subscribe to Netflix, > I highly recommend this movie. > > Carol Elkins > Critterhaven--Registered Barbados Blackbelly Hair Sheep > (no shear, no dock, no fuss) > Pueblo, Colorado > http://www.critterhaven.biz > > _______________________________________________ > This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list > Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info > _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
