This is the story of Ben Jackson, a farmer living on a farm in Guyra (New South Wales, Australia), which is under lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Unable to attend the funeral of his beloved Aunt Deb in Brisbane, Queensland, 430 km away, Jackson came up with the idea of sending his heart through sheep. Using a drone, Jackson filmed hundreds of sheep forming a heart shape that he had planned in a field.
Jackson scattered seeds to entice the sheep to form a desired shape. After many failures, Jackson's efforts finally paid off.
"There was no way I could go there and see her, say goodbye or go to the funeral. So I felt hopeless, helpless. I really didn't know what to do. Then I came up with the idea of making a giant heart to give to her," Jackson said.
He shared the video of the sheep on his personal Instagram page and sent it to relatives to show on the day of his late aunt's funeral. Sharing the video on Instagram, he wrote: "I did this for Aunt Deb. Everyone said goodbye to her yesterday. I hope she looked down and saw the heart from heaven."
Jackson had previously begun experimenting with getting sheep to form the shapes he wanted to relieve the pressure of raising livestock during the severe drought that gripped Australia, which also coincided with the pandemic months.
Jackson discovered that if he scattered grain from a truck in a pattern he liked, the sheep would automatically form into that pattern within minutes. Jackson said the sheep formations helped him relax during difficult times.
Readers are invited to admire the scene of a heart-shaped flock of sheep through the video below:
