Mary's Sheep

They’re everywhere and they’re every color. Black ones, white ones, spotted ones….and she names them all.  And the babies….well, she gives them a hug and a kiss just like she would her own babies at nap time….but wait, aren’t they her babies? 

The expression on Mary Skaggs’ face changes from happy to sad back to happy again as she remembers her father and the tradition of sheep in her family. 2015 marks the 60^th year the sheep have been in her family.

“My favorite memory of growing up with a sheep farmer as my dad was going into the fields after the babies were born and carrying them to the barn. Mom and Dad and my brothers and sisters all helped. Dad would put the babies up with their mommies for a few days to make sure they would be ok. We still do that today” said Mary (Rose) Skaggs

            Russell (Plummer) Rose was 28 years old in 1955 when he brought home two Dorset Cross lambs, one ewe and one ram.

His daughter Doris remembers “He was working in construction in Chillicothe, Ohio and staying with Uncle Kit and Aunt Bess. Uncle Kit would bring him home almost every week-end. I remember the day he brought those two little sheep home with him. From time to time he would bring more ewes until he had built a flock of about 30 sheep”.

“Daddy named him Lamb Chop”. Mary’s sister, Loy, remembers her favorite sheep, a little ram. “His mom, Edna, had triplets and she didn’t have enough milk to feed all three so she didn’t want him. I bottled fed him until he was old enough to eat on his own”.

Plummer Rose loved sheep and the land where he raised them, a farm of about 400 acres on Mauk Ridge. He said “They are the most humble creatures God created”. Plummer named each one at birth. Although, he would not harvest the sheep and use them as food, from time to time, he did sale them. “He made it plain that the person purchasing the sheep was not to talk about its fate”, Mary remembers.

In 2005, fifty years after he brought those first two little sheep home, Plummer Rose died from complications of bone and prostate cancer. In January of that year he called his daughter Mary (Rose) Skaggs. She recalls, “It was Sunday after church”, Mary recalls. “His voice was very week. He said ‘I want you to come over and bring your cattle trailer’. When I asked why he just said, ‘Don’t ask why, just come’. John Paul”, Mary’s husband, “and I went out there. He said ‘You’re the only one that has shown the same interest as I have in my sheep. Just promise me you will carry on the tradition”.

“We brought 20-30 sheep home with us. That was ten years ago but it seems like yesterday.”

“I still have the blood line of those two sheep Dad first brought home. Following his tradition, we purchase a new ram each year and keep some of the ewes. Right now we have a flock of 50 counting all the mommies and babies. We care for the sheep, as much as I can, just the way Daddy did”.

As it was while Mary was growing up, tending the sheep is a family project. She and John Paul are joined by their son, Daniel and daughter Emily (Skaggs) Kiser. 

“If it was up to Mary, we would never sell a sheep but we can’t keep them all. We take some to market but rarely do we sell them locally”, said John Paul.

“Just like Daddy, I name each one when it’s born and watch them grow up. They have a personality all their own”, Mary said.

“It shouldn’t take over half hour to feed the sheep but it takes Mary at least two hours” John Paul says with a big smile.

“When I was younger, I wondered why Dad wanted to keep the sheep. It seemed like something was always killing them. The neighbor’s dogs, coyotes, and accidents seemed to take a lot of them away. Now I understand exactly why he kept them. I like to watch them. When I look at the sheep, I think about Daddy. He thought they were the most humble creature God created. To me, he was the most humble person who ever lived. I believe he lives on through the sheep”.

“I think Daddy would be proud of me for the way we raise the sheep with respect and love. I hope my children, Daniel and Emily, will carry on the tradition when John Paul can no longer do it.

Mary and John Paul are not the only members of Plummer Rose’s family who have sheep from his blood line. His great nephew, Donnie and Lori Rose purchased sheep from Mary and John Paul. “Last week when it was 0 degrees outside, one of mine had three babies. She got mastitis and couldn’t feed them so I’m bottle feeding all three,” Donnie said. Donnie and Lori, they too, see the need to carry on the tradition.