May 11, 2009The best way to track a sheep

They've been hanging around humans since the beginning. They're now a livestock and a part of the proud Irish landscape. But although there are more than a billion of these animals on earth, they are not so easily tracked... So, what’s the best way?

There are many reasons to track a sheep: keeping the herd together, testing if they faint as easily as some weird goats or protecting them from mulesing.

Fainting goats

Being crucial actors in the sheep industry, Australia and New Zealand have developed interesting techniques. Seeing as Australia has already had huge success with Crocodile Dundee and another certain animal, we decided to turn to the country with the highest sheep per capita: New Zealand.

Bloody oath! This article is interesting. Let's have a Captain Cook!

New Zealand is certainly an interesting country:

- It has been the host to the noteworthy “Bridge to Terabithia”

Max (our marketing guy) when he was younger.

- Their rugby team dances before playing

- Black : Ouh Ah. Let's play ball. - White : How frightening let's hold on to each other

- They also have a high "Sir" per capita ratio!

Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Peter Blake are both from New Zealand and are prominent figures when it comes to extended trips. Sir Hillary was among the first ones to climb Mt. Everest, Sir Blake set the fastest time around the world sailing. And with all due respect: he even died at the hand of pirates. Talk about being adventurous. He left us with stories of his amazing trips, his strong environmental concern with global warming and pollution, and introduced a young company to the world: Icebreaker.

Ted Danson-Nietzche-like New Zealand hero said: "Icebreaker is superior in every way to anything I've ever worn. I wore it for 40 days and 40 nights and it didn't itch or get whiffy"

Icebreaker is a company you will probably hear a lot about on the Altitude-blog so I won’t go too much into details. Basically, the company found success by turning New Zealand’s famous merino wool into a “piece-of-art clothing".

A few months ago, they have launched the BAA Code (BaaAaaAa sheep voice), an innovative way to track where their product comes from. Every single Icebreaker garment comes with a unique code. Once you input this number on their website, you will be provided with various information regarding the sheep station where your garment comes from. You will learn about the station, the family in charge, the fibre, the yarn, Icebreaker's views on environmental ethics, manufacturing ethics, animal welfare and alike. Few companies in the outdoor industry go this far.

See for yourself. Even if you don't have any Icebreaker clothing, here's a demo code so you can test the system: 213C3F390. Go ahead and try it!

http://www.icebreaker.com/site/baacode/index.html

Cet article est disponible en français ici