Animals and breeds are not just categories of livestock; they are living relationships shaped by land, work, and long histories of human care. The resources gathered here explore that relationship from many angles — breed lineage and development, the daily practice of shepherding, animal behaviour and nutrition, practical health and husbandry, and the ways animals live in story, memory, and culture. Together, they reflect an understanding of livestock not as units of production, but as co-workers and fellow inhabitants of working landscapes.

Breed History and Lineage

“Publication of the Surtees Society, Matthew and George Culley, Farming Letters 1798-1804”; Edited by Anne Orde; Boydell Press, 2006
“Robert Bakewell of Dishley: Farmer and Livestock Improver”; David L. Wykes; AgHR 52 I, p. 38-55
“Sheep Raising in Central Alberta and A Comparison of Six Breeds” (archived); F.H. Reed, L.T. Chapman; Dominion of Canada, Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 68, 1928
“Robert Bakewell (1725-1795), pioneer animal breeder, and his influence on Charles Darwin”; Roger J. Wood; University of Manchester, 1973
“Highlights of Sheep History in the Canadian West”; Grant MacEwan; Alberta Sheep and Wool Commission, 1991. See Also: Land and Place, Western Canadian Prairie History
“DLS and Arcott Sheep, New Canadian Breeds”; M.H. Fahmy, J.N.B. Shrestha; Agriculture Canada, 1993

Shepherding as Practice and Way of Life

“English Pastoral”; James Rebanks; Allen Lane, 2020
“A Shepherd’s Life”; W. H. Hudson; Okitoks Press, 2017
“The Art and Science of Shepherding, Tapping the Wisdom of French Herders”; Edited by Michel Meuret and Fred Provenza; Acres, USA, 2014
“Sweetgrass”; Directed by Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, 2009; Synopsis: An unsentimental elegy to the American West, Sweetgrass follows the last modern-day cowboys to lead their flocks of sheep up into Montana’s breathtaking and often dangerous Absaroka-Beartooth mountains for summer pasture. This astonishingly beautiful yet unsparing film reveals a world in which nature and culture, animals and humans, vulnerability and violence are all intimately meshed.

Animal Behaviour, Nutrition and Lived Ecology

“Nourishment, What Animals Can Teach Us About Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom”; Fred Provenza; Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018

Husbandry, Health and Practical Care

“Sheep Husbandry in Canada” (archived); published by the authority of Hon. W. R. Motherwell, Minister of Agriculture, Government of Canada, 1924
“The Sheep Book, A Handbook for the Modern Shepherd”; Ron Parker; Ohio University Press, 2001
“Keeping Livestock Healthy”; N. Bruce Hanyes, D.V.M.; Storey Publishing, 2001
“Storey’s Guide to Raising Sheep, Breeding, Care, Facilities”; Paula Simmons and Carol Ekarius; Storey Publishing, 2009
“Veterinary Parasitology, Reference Manual, 5th Edition”; William J. Foreyt; Iowa State University Press, 2001

Sheep and Other Working Species

“Goats, Sheep and How They Live”; Marie M. Jenkins, drawings by Matthew Kalmenoff; Holiday House, NY, 1978
“The Alpaca Breeding Book”; Dr. K.D. Galbraith; Walnut Creek Publishing, 2013

Animals in Culture, Story and Memory

“The Lambs, My Father, a Farm and the Gift of a Flock of Sheep”; Carole George; Thomas Dunne Books, 2018
“Woolly West, Colorado’s Hidden History of Sheepscapes”; Andrew Gulliford; Texas A&M University Press, 2018
“Counting Sheep”; Philip Walling; Profile Books, 2015