Learn More About Ranching
Sweetgrass follows the last sheepherders to lead their flocks up into Montana's Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains for summer pasture. Learn more about the American West, romanticized depictions of the cowboy or ranching and the economics of sheep ranching.
Investigate sustainable sheep-raising practices (or practices for the livestock typically raised in your state). Encourage your state to adopt or enforce sustainable ranching and farming practices.
John Ahern sings to pass the time. See if you can find a transcript of the songs he is half-remembering. Write your own sheep herding song or cowboy poem and record a video version to post online.
About 10,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated by humans. They provided both animal protein and skins for shelter. Ask friends and family to identify things they own or use that rely on sheep ranching. Where are those things made?
Analyze political advertising that uses cowboy or sheep imagery. What messages are the politicians trying to convey and how real or romanticized are their depictions? Why would a politician who isn't a cowboy by profession choose to associate him or herself with the image of a cowboy?
Host a screening and discussion of Sweetgrass at a 4-H meeting.
Host a follow-up panel to discuss the depiction of nature and the West in Sweetgrass, including the role of "rugged individualism" and the "cowboy" in American culture. Consider including speakers or artists who can discuss their own visions of the West, or of human-animal relations.