Estancia Morro Chico. Southern Patagonia's sheep farms

1. Beyond the Southern Fields of Ice, massive extensions of pampa hold foreign animals that have somewhat learned to call this place home. In this lands, were 6.5 foot men used to roam among their myths, Western man has engineered a market where it seemed impossible. Welcome to Southern Patagonia.

2. Patagonia holds the world's second largest extrapolar icefield and perhaps the most pristine forrest to be found. But in its barren plain lands, the sheep industry has become the main economic activity. 2.5 million people seem little compared to the over 20 million sheeps living in the pampas.

3. Skilled shearers can shear more than two hundred sheep a day. Making around a dollar per sheared animal, $200 a day is an exorbitant wage for South American standards. Yet it is seasonal and backbreaking and requieres the experience of several years.

4. Struggling constantly with an animal that weights in average 55 kilograms is not easy. Shearing a sheep requieres a combination of joint locks to immobilize the animal and a team of people working by your side.

5. Almost disdainful and short tempered, the Patagonian gaucho distinguishes himself from the shearers collective of the Estancia. Riding pure bred horses and always surrounded by his shepherd dogs, these old school cowboys herd thousands of sheep a day.