#24 Agronomic Features by Emma McKervey

Agronomic Features

It is not until the border is crossed into Germany

that I see the first Friesian cows from the train,

despite their image being almost as ubiquitous

 as tulips and windmills on the merchandise hawked

everywhere in Holland. There had been, in fact, more sheep

seen on this journey East into the interior than anything else,

although I was unprepared for the predominance of cabbage

as a major agronomic feature of the dead pan landscape.

At home the sheep stare unblinking, first the avant-garde,

then gradually the rest of the flock, their black faces

lifting from grass to watch, expressionless,

my watching them through the gap in the hedge.

If time is taken differences can be seen in the patterning

of black on white, the prominence of bony brows

the growth whorls of grubby fleece.

When they are sheared it will become more difficult to tell them apart.

They’ll huddle together in their stubble and nakedness for warmth,

bodies pressed close, wool still thick about their legs,

keeping those limbs warm and supple enough to run.