Many people mistakenly believe that sheep are native to the Americas, but they are wrong.
They arrived in the Río de la Plata region with the first Spaniards who settled in the Pampas and adapted very well to the terrain. This took place around 1530.
As the governments of Argentina and Chile expanded their territories southward across the continent, plans began to take shape for the extensive development of sheep farming in Patagonia.
But in Patagonia, the first sheep came from the Falkland Islands.
English settlers were already living on the islands and raising sheep. This proved that the animal could adapt to the harsh southern climates. And when the first ranches began to be established in the region, they had to import the necessary livestock from the Falkland Islands to get the operation up and running.
It was a long and costly process for the ranchers. It was also a grueling journey for the animals. They had to cross the southern seas, which caused them a great deal of stress. The trauma of the journey left them unable to reproduce for a year or two. And sometimes the quality of the wool wasn’t the best.
After that, they began organizing “long-distance drives”—that is, long overland journeys—to make the process more natural for the animals.
The book includes a chapter dedicated to the “Great Drive” of 1888. This involved the transport of 5,000 sheep and 500 horses from Río Negro to Santa Cruz (2,000 km).
