Tracking the Sheep

The sheep and the shepherd. It’s a romantic notion. But today’s sheep ranchers have a Bluetooth headset in the ear, a Blackberry PDA attached to a belt, a Venti Mocha perched desktop alongside a GPS receiver. He sits remote from his flock in a warm ranch house, a crook exchanged for a mouse, perhaps playing a game of Internet Spades while still on the clock.

In Psalm 23, the shepherd leads the sheep beside cool waters. In century 21, the shepherd weighs the sheep beside cool waters … while he sits behind a laptop miles away.

We are used to the rogue image of the Bedouin shepherd — crook in hand, flowing robes, Middle Eastern head-covering. We remember a young David, tending his father’s flocks alone in the cold, battling lions and bears, engaging the God of creation in songs and poems that he would later pen into psalms.

Now consider today’s e-shepherd — Bluetooth headset in ear, Blackberry PDA attached to belt, Venti Mocha perched desktop alongside GPS receiver. He sits remote from his flock in a warm ranch house, a crook exchanged for a mouse, perhaps playing a game of Internet Spades while still on the clock.

That may be the appropriate picture in New South Wales, Australia, where cutting-edge technologies are being applied to an age-old industry. Ranchers attach tiny GPS transponders to the ears of baby lambs,...