Sheep herder works in U.S. to benefit family in Peru
Samuel Inga Fernandez enjoys his job caring for sheep
By LARRY MEYER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Monday, November 10, 2008 10:43 AM PST
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| Samuel Inga Fernandez, a sheep herder from Peru, stands with his dog and sheep Saturday on the Dick Corn farm, north of Nyssa. |
NYSSA — He is a solitary figure in the cold misty air out in the alfalfa fields north of Nyssa, usually with his dog nearby and always near the large band of sheep that are his charges, as they go from field to field around the valley to feed. It is something Samuel Inga Fernandez has been doing in the United States for about 12 years.
The 33-year-old sheep herder from Peru, who works for Shirt’s Sheep Company, moves with his flock down the mountains to the “desert,” as he calls the valley, and will be out in the field with them until the start of lambing. Then he returns to the ranch and has opportunities to go into town.
With the sheep inside a perimeter, his task is to make sure they have water and calculate when it is time to move them from one feeding area to another and keep an eye on their condition.
“I did this in Peru,” Inga Fernandez said, through interpreter Diego Castellanoz. “In Peru, it’s a little different,” he added, commenting, in the Northwest, there is plenty of feed for the sheep.
Back in Peru, where he lived, feed is not as plentiful, so it is harder for the sheep to reproduce, he said.
Inga Fernandez has two brothers who also herd sheep, and his wife and a daughter are also back home.
“I’m contracted for three years,” Inga Fernandez said. “It’s for my family to have better life.”
He has gone home for three or four months trips between the three-year periods. While he is lonely at times, Inga Fernandez said he has regular contact with his family.
The main ranch from which he works is in Wilder, and the sheep are trucked between the valley and the mountains.
While he lives in a camp trailer during the colder months in the valley, the terrain in the mountains is often rugged, with no roads, Inga Fernandez said it is much easier to pack in a tent with mules or horses. The ranch brings supplies to wherever he is.
Inga Fernandez said he came to work in the United States when officials at the company he worked for in Peru asked if he would be interested in coming north.
He is one of 26 herders working for the Shirt’s Sheep Company, he said.
“This is a big company,” Inga Fernandez said, adding there are about 2,100 sheep in his band.
He said he enjoys his work and has a radio for entertainment and watches the activity around him to keep him from getting bored.
little red riding pig wrote on Nov 13, 2008 6:22 PM: