An Australian farmer couldn’t go to his aunt’s funeral because of pandemic restrictions so he paid his respects with a novel alternative: dozens of sheep arranged in the shape of a love heart.
Drone-shot video of pregnant ewes munching barley in a paddock while unwittingly expressing Ben Jackson’s affection for his beloved Auntie Deb was viewed by mourners at her funeral in the city of Brisbane in Queensland state this week.
Jackson was locked down at the time across a state border at his farm in Guyra in New South Wales state, 430 kilometers (270 miles) away.
“It took me a few goes to get it right ... and the final result is what you see. That was as close to a heart as I could get it,” Jackson said on Thursday.
Jackson started experimenting with making shapes with sheep to relieve the monotonous stress of hand-feeding livestock during a devastating drought across most of Australia that broke in the early months of the pandemic.
He discovered that if he spelled the names of his favorite musical bands with grain dropped from the back of a truck that the flock would roughly adopt the same shape for several minutes.
“It certainly lifted my spirits back in the drought,” Jackson said.
“This heart that I’ve done for my auntie, it certainly seems like it’s had a bit of an effect across Australia,” he added, referring to emotional social media responses.
“Maybe we all just need to give ourselves a big virtual hug,” he said.
Jackson said he was lucky to have any grain left on his property after a mouse plague this year that followed the drought.
He continues to supplement the pregnant ewes’ diet with grain to improve their condition before they give birth.
Biden and the GOP can't build consensus on infrastructure, COVID-19 vaccine testing coming to babies, and much more. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Wednesday, June 9, 2021.
Multiple websites went offline briefly across the globe Tuesday after an outage at the cloud service company Fastly, revealing how critical a handful of companies running the internet's plumbing have become.
Not everyone is ready to celebrate the newly-approved Alzheimer's drug, big news from Apple, and much more. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Tuesday, June 8, 2021.
Deadly gun violence is raging back in the U.S., Logan Paul goes eight rounds with boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bundle of joy has arrived! Here's everything you Need2Know for Monday, June 7, 2021.
Cheddar's Chloe Aiello spoke to LGBTQ bars in New York City about surviving the pandemic and what the future may hold during Pride month.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
A new U.S. government report fails to give a definitive explanation of UFOs spotted by military pilots. It finds no evidence they are linked to aliens — but doesn't deny the possibility either.
A wandering herd of 15 elephants have been journeying in southwestern China's Kunming, Yunnan Province as local authorities try to keep them away from populated areas.
Drought is causing a state of emergency in California, your morning brew may be off the menu at Starbucks, and some people better steer clear of dining on cicadas. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Friday, June 4, 2021.
Cheddar's Michelle Castillo reports on the run-up to the return to live shows from Broadway At the Drive In, a performance space in Queens, N.Y., where performers and crew members are getting ready.
