Sheep

Sheep are part of the working life of River Valley Farm and of Kenyon Clutter’s childhood: they represent livestock vulnerable to harsh weather, animals he raised to earn money, and creatures he once carried to safety himself.

Farm Livestock and Risk

The Clutter operation depended on crops as well as animals. Sheep were among the livestock important to the farm, though the account emphasizes cattle in describing the herd and does not specify the size of the sheep flock. The farm’s success followed a difficult beginning: wheat failed twice, and during one winter a blizzard killed several hundred Sheep. The losses show how weather could threaten the farm even as Herbert Clutter built it into a substantial enterprise.

Kenyon’s Work and Independence

Kenyon raised Sheep for money, and the earnings gave him an early measure of independence. At eleven, with his father’s permission, he used money he had earned from them to buy an old truck with a Model A engine. He and his friend Bob Jones called it the Coyote Wagon. The animals thus figure not only as farm stock but as the source of a purchase that opened a new sphere of freedom for the boys.

Physical Encounter and Narrative Role

Kenyon was tall and strong but awkward in his movements. The account makes that contrast concrete: during a blizzard, he carried two full-grown Sheep for two miles to rescue them. This act places the animals outside a purely economic role. They are vulnerable beings whose immediate need calls forth Kenyon’s strength, while the same episode also complicates the description of him as physically uncoordinated. Across these brief appearances, Sheep connect the farm’s exposure to the weather with Kenyon’s labor, resourcefulness, and capacity for care.