Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2025 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
StoryCorps is in Selma through February 7. Help preserve your stories and community history. Learn more here: StoryCorps Selma.

This Australian Farmer Isn't Sheepish About Showing Love For His Late Aunt

In this image taken from video, sheep form the shape of a heart in a field in Guyra, northern New South Wales, Australia, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021.
Ben Jackson
/
AP
In this image taken from video, sheep form the shape of a heart in a field in Guyra, northern New South Wales, Australia, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021.

Australian sheep farmer Ben Jackson was stuck at home, unable to attend his beloved aunt's funeral.

Coronavirus pandemic border closures in the country kept Jackson at home in Guyra in the state of New South Wales, more than 200 miles away from the funeral in Brisbane in Queensland. His aunt died after a two-year battle with cancer, reports The Guardian.

Unable to say goodbye in person, Jackson still wanted to honor her in a memorable way.

As he fed his pregnant ewes (that's a female sheep) this week, he arranged dozens of his animals in the shape of a heart. By laying out grain by hand in his desired shape, his hungry animals set out to do the rest of the work.

From the sky, a drone captured video of the sheep as they huddled around the grain, appearing like white moving specks on the pasture.

"I just hope that when I did it, she was having a peep through the clouds and was able to see it," Jackson told 7News in Sydney.

He calls it "sheep art," according to ABC News, and this is not the first time he's used his livestock for storytelling.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jaclyn Diaz is a reporter on Newshub.
News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.