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This is the story of Ben Jackson, a farmer living on a farm in Guyra (New South Wales, Australia), where a lockdown is in effect 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 expressing his feelings through his sheep. Using a drone, Jackson filmed hundreds of sheep forming a heart shape in the field.
Jackson scattered seeds to entice the sheep to form the shape he wanted. After many failed attempts, Jackson's efforts were finally rewarded.
"There was no way I could go there and see my aunt, say goodbye, or attend the funeral. So I felt desperate, helpless. I really didn't know what to do. Then I came up with the idea of making a giant heart to give to my aunt," Jackson said.
He shared the video of himself arranging the sheep on his personal Instagram page and also sent the footage to relatives to show at his late aunt's funeral. Sharing the video on Instagram, he wrote: "I did this for Aunt Deb. Yesterday everyone said goodbye to her. I hope she looked down and saw the heart shape from heaven."
Previously, Jackson had begun experimenting with arranging sheep into desired shapes to alleviate the pressure of livestock farming during the severe drought that swept across Australia, which also coincided with the months of the pandemic.
Jackson discovered that if he scattered grain from the truck in a pattern he liked, the sheep would automatically form that pattern within minutes. Jackson said this sheep-shaped arrangement helped relieve his stress during difficult times.
Readers are invited to admire the heart-shaped formation created by the flock of sheep in the video below:
