Cordwainer Smith's "Mother Hutton's Littul Kittons"

[FBI parte due]

The planet Norstrilia (Old North Australia), a semi-arid planet where an immortality drug called stroon is harvested from gigantic, virus-infected sheep each weighing more than 100 tons. Norstrilians are nominally the richest people in the galaxy and defend their immensely valuable stroon with sophisticated weapons (as shown in the story "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons"). However, extremely high taxes ensure that everyone on the planet lives a frugal, rural life, like the farmers of old Australia, to keep the Norstrilians tough.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Hitton's_Littul_Kittons

Published 4 years before Dune.

 

[jack]

That looks pretty cool.

 

[FBI parte due]

Yeah, he's definitely less well-known (among people who didn't grow up in that era, at least) than he ought to be!

 

[FBI parte due]

HUMILIATING typo in the title now forever preserved, oh kill me now!

 

[Cassie]

We should all have a giant virus infected sheep! Also, one sheep should be a shoop, IMO.

 

[Loktar]

We should all have a giant virus infected sheep! Also, one sheep should be a shoop, IMO.

Is that what Salt N Pepa were secretly singing about?

 

[jack]

We should all have a giant virus infected sheep! Also, one sheep should be a shoop, IMO.

 

[CaptainWacky]

I couldn't find it on Amazon, but they have Smith's collection The Rediscovery of Man and maybe I should just get it (on Kindle) as I haven't read enough classic science fiction?