Rodrigo gallops his horse through the vast, barren mountains of Idaho. For three consecutive months, it’s just him and his flocks of sheep in a portrait-like landscape—shared with grizzly bears.
Rodrigo looks back, his blood turning cold over what he sees: a grizzly is mounting after him.
The sheep herder hastily unlocks his gun and, after firing several shots, kills the bear. Panic-stricken, he remembers his host country’s laws against shooting such bears and, with the aid of his horse, drags the behemoth over a cliff.
Rodrigo recounts the dramatic story to filmmaker Andres Caballero, as he waits in an immigration office in San Francisco.
“I'd never ever do that again,” Rodrigo tells Caballero. “I can’t believe there are guys out there still doing that.”
Rodrigo is from a select group of immigrants who come to the United States to work as sheep herders. This special breed of worker most often hails from south of the border, choosing the open pastures over the 9-to-5 grind of the city.
Sofian Khan and Caballero are currently following immigrant herders in the West, capturing their daily life in filming an upcoming documentary called “El Pastor.”
“We are going to explore how a human being can live by themselves for two to three months. How does a person keep sane in this process?” Khan said. “There is a romantic and a dark side to this lifestyle.”
Due to labor shortages during World War II, the U.S. sheep industry struggled to recover on its own. In the 1950s, the Western Range Association (WRA) began recruiting foreign sheep herders under the H-2A program, which provided immigrants with temporary agricultural work visa.
These days, recruits mainly come from South and Central America, according to information on the University of Nevada website.
WRA goes to countries such as Chile, Peru, and Mexico to recruit shepherds who have had generations of experience. “They’re built, they’re made for this kind of environment,” Andres Caballero said.
The filmmaker added that while few U.S workers may be willing to live isolated on mountain ranges and deserts for $750 a month, for some immigrants it is a precious chance to send money back home.
Although a sheep herder’s life on the open range might seem strange in the 21st century, it is vital to the U.S sheep industry. “If it weren’t for the open range, sheep operations in the U.S would rely solely on small farms. And the numbers are low enough as it is,” explained Dennis Richins, executive director of WRA.
According to Caballero, the ranchers get cheap workers and immigrants get their hard-sought jobs; but not everyone gets a happy ending. The job comes with risk: “There’s definitely death involved in this profession,” Caballero said.
After spending some time with the herders, the filmmakers have heard a few stories: One man was killed by lightning; a less fortunate Peruvian man was killed by a grizzly bear. “Another Peruvian guy told me he found a guy shot to death. It’s not confirmed if it’s a suicide or murder,” Caballero said.
The filmmakers traveled to the grasslands of Utah, accompanied by a bear hunter. He told them the area had been closed just a few days earlier, as detectives investigated a human skull discovered nearby.
