FEED MY SHEEP
In the spring of 2011 we started calving on the ranch on 15
February as is our normal custom. To do
this we turn the bulls in with the herd mother cows on 5 May the year
before. Calving starts pretty close to
on-time each year. That particular year, calving was going well. We receive 5 to 7 calves per day during the
height of the calving season. The intent
is to have all the calves on the ground before the first of May so the calf
crop is even, the calves are doctored and cows are ready to go on pasture
together by the end of May. There is
nothing prettier than sitting on the back of a horse riding through a herd of
cattle with healthy, big calves on pasture in the high mountains.
I am continually impressed with the feeling of
responsibility that comes with owning cattle.
They need food, nutrients, water, and medical help. When they get out, you have to find them and
get them back in. It is fulfilling to
see them healthy, to see the herd genetics improve and to take care of them in
a humane way. There are many tricks to
the trade that make handling cattle efficient and easier. Calving time is always full of surprises and
drama. Sometimes a cow needs help to
deliver, cows may claim the wrong calf, calves can get sick or cold and give
up, they may not suck, from time to time we graft a twin on a cow that may have
lost a calf, etc. Every situation has a
particular best way to be handled.
One day in March, I left work during lunch time to check the
herd, especially to see if any cows needed help. As I stopped at the pasture, I noticed a cow
had just delivered her calf behind the front gate to the pasture. The calf was laying on the ground steaming in
the cold weather; the mother cow was licking the calf and bellowing. I watched for a minute. The calf did not move. I decided to take a look. I walked over and immediately saw what I hate
to see more than anything with new born calves; the cow had cleaned out and
afterbirth was lying across the calf’s nose. I hurried through the gate, cleared his nose
and mouth only to see the healthy, black new born, bull calf lying still with
its lifeless eyes wide open; suffocated.
I felt with my hand, he had no heart beat and was not breathing. It sickened me because when they are dead you
cannot bring them back and I always feel so responsible for their well being. I began chest compressions on the calf to
stimulate the heart and breathing by pressing down on his rib cage, much like
CPR on a human. Shortly thereafter he
began to breathe with large chest contractions.
I felt his heart begin pounding under his ribs. It was a miracle; I had brought this calf
back from sure death. He was blinking
his eyes and soon stood up and went to his mother and started sucking. That calf became one of the biggest and healthiest
calves in the herd that year.
Because of my love for ranching, I really connect as the
Lord reproves the shepherds of Israel who do not feed the flock in the last
days when the Lord gathers the lost sheep of Israel. The whole chapter deserves reading as it is
about us. Here is an excerpt:
2 …
Woe be to the shepherds of
Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the
flocks?
3 Ye eat
the fat,
and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye
feed not the flock.
4 The
diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick,
neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought
again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost…
5 And they
were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to
all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
6 My sheep wandered
through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was
scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or
seek after them.
14 I will
feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their
fold be: there shall they lie in
a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains
of Israel.
31 And
ye my flock,
the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God,
saith the Lord God. (Ezek. 34)
I want to take a minute and talk about our responsibility as
part of The Total Mind Shift that we
feed the flock by teaching with power and conviction about the restoration of
the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Ghost, The Silver Bullet,
will do the convincing to those we teach of the truthfulness of our message.
Once we find and before we baptize, our job is to teach. Teaching is how we feed the flock, how we
strengthen those with spiritual disease and spiritual sickness or who are
spiritually broken and are driven away and spiritually lost. We are the shepherds and the hope of the
sheep. Verse 6 is the great finding
verse. The sheep are scattered across
the face of the earth and between us and the member-missionary work there is
nobody to search or seek after them. Verse
14 is particularly comforting, the Lord will feed them through us as we teach
and, similar to the cattle business, it is a beautiful sight to see people
eventually in the fold in a fat pasture upon the mountain.
In a similar way the Lord called Peter to his ministry after
the resurrection:
17 He saith unto him the third
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? … And he said unto him,
Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto
him, Feed my sheep.
(John 21:17)
Feeding my sheep is teaching with divine power, the power of
the Holy Ghost. The message of the
restoration of the gospel must be taught by the spirit who will testify of the
truth, otherwise conversion does not take place. Your setting apart included the promise that
the spirit will attend your teaching as you remain worthy for that blessing.
President Robinson
