Skylarks and Peewits

Shep is so excited! Hey! - it doesn't take much y'know! The title may be a give away.......

Spring seems as though it is trying to arrive - exciting or what??

The end of February saw Shep gathering ground I had never gathered before, it was snowing like mad, poor visibility and I was struggling to find a safe route let alone any sheep

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Eventually dropping down off the tops there was no doubt about it that sheep were infront of me and hopefully were all gathered

There had been a fair fall of snow once again and you couldn't help but question whether spring was ever likely to return to Tarset. However, two days later saw the beginnning of March. Sharp, frosty weather came in with the month. Hard mornings followed by bright sunny days. But more importantly the skylarks returned, their voices bringing cheer to my heart, peewits (lapwings) too, tumbling about the skies and pee-witting away merrily.

Snow still visible, ground rock hard with frost, sunshine with heat in it, skylarks and peewits singing away. Spuggies (sparrows) and starlings mating up and nest building - there is hope. Here we are into March and the signs are returning, the days are lengthening, we are creeping out of winter and towards spring - SO EXCITING!

snow bathing

Okay, I can hear you muttering............. What the hell is that meant to be? Well, try looking a bit closer..

Still none the wiser huh? Well it is one of my dogs having a snow bath and loving every minute of it. Both dogs love to roll in snow, dewy grass or anything which they feel will freshen them up, I'm sure it's their version of a shower. Although I must admit they also enjoy rolling on dead carcases or fox and badger shit which I can guarantee to you has the opposite effect of freshening up!

This dog - Moss - had been gathering sheep for an hour when I stopped the bike and he took his opportunity to 'freshen up', or maybe he was cooling down, or even trying to dislodge the snow balls (shown on the first photo)which were clinging to the fur on his under carriage. What ever he was doing he thoroughly enjoyed the experience before we went on our way to gather yet more sheep.

The Apprentice(s) and Tarset on Telly

Tarset farmers are to find themselves on telly, seemingly this Sunday evening no less (7th March), on the weekly farming programme Countryfile.

The telly cameras turned up in the area a fortnight back to film and highlight the Apprenticeship scheme. A scheme backed by Northumberland National Park to encourage youngsters to go into farming.

There are three areas in Northumberland other than the North Tyne where farmers are taking on apprentices, these being the Roman Wall, Wooler and the Coquet. Three apprentices are designated an area each and spend a fortnight at a time on each farm signed up to the scheme, seemingly also spending a week at college in between times.

The farmers who signed up have a subscription fee to pay with the remainder of the wages being made up by the Park itself.

A sound idea, one which has already run in many other areas of the country. These youngsters are getting an opportunity to learn hands on about farming and what it entails, working on different farms in the area and therefore gaining different ideas from each farm. A scheme intended to get youth back into farming.

In many ways we are lucky as there is a fair bit of young blood in Northumberland. The local group of the Blackfaced Sheep Breeders Association recently released figures which said a third of its membership is made up of people below the age of thirty, so there is hope for the future of farming if these figures are anything to go by.

Some of these apprentices have no previous knowledge of agriculture at all which is a difficult position to be in if you wish to have a career in it, especially as agricultural colleges are closing courses due to lack of interest. This scheme is enabling those who think they would like to enter the industry an opportunity to have a taster of what it is all about and hopefully inspire them to 'join up' full time. Whether there will be jobs available for them at the end is a different matter. Things have changed drastically. When I first came into the valley many years ago (hired as a full time shepherd on an out-bye farm) there were nine shepherds employed in this area, now there is only one full time shepherd, hence the reason, due to redundancy, I ended up self employed.

To date the 'kids' seem to be enjoying the challenges thrown at them and are appreciating the opportunity they have been given. To learn more you'll just have to tune in to BBC 1 on Sunday evening.

pregnancy scanning - a management tool

As already mentioned pregnancy scanning is now getting well through. I skipped over it the last time, explaining what happened at the actual scanning, it's now time to explain to you why it is a useful management tool.

Hill ewes carry more single lambs than they do multiple births. They live out on the hill only coming in closer to home to be lambed. There are still some which remain out on the hill and are lambed out there.

Any twin lambs born to these ewes which are lambed out on the hill have to be walked in onto better ground to give the ewe a sporting chance of rearing them. Even those brought into the fields to be lambed need the twins walking off onto kinder pastures.

Once scanning came to the fore it soon became apparent that from an early stage you were aware which sheep were carrying more than one lamb. These could be brought off the hill much sooner than all the single bearing sheep and looked after. They can be trough fed, ensuring the lambs are strong when they are born and the ewe will hopefully milk well and be able to rear them.

The result has been an increase in quality lambs available for sale in the back end, as they have had a good start in life, in fact they have had a good start prior to life due to their mothers being fed supplementary feeding which is high in energy and protein in the later weeks of their pregnancy.

Single bearing ewes are usually given some form of feeding prior to lambing but you don't want the lambs to get too big as this may cause lambing difficulties, therefore it is very useful to know which ewes need more feeding than others.

Sheep can be fed at troughs, wooden or metal troughs which keep the sheep cake off the ground. These are put out in a line and tipped over once emptied to prevent them getting full of water/snow or whatever. Every feeding time they have to be turned and filled manually with cake out of a bag.

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This can be a precarious job, sheep get very keen for feed and those with horns know how to use them. It can be a matter of speed, getting the feed into the trough before a flock has you down on your backside or the bag tipped and all emptied out into the first trough, made more difficult when the conditions are clarty (muddy) and you struggle to make purchase with your feet as many bodies push in to have the first mouthful of feed. Bear in mind these ewes weigh anything from 50 - 70kgs and believe you me they can shove their weight about!

Snackers have come to the fore in later years. A contraption which is towed by a quad bike, it releases the feed out in heaps, with the operator safely out of harms way whilst driving the bike. Sheep can however have suicidal tendencies as they run around the front of the bike - care is needed. Although as with the troughs it often pays to have a dog at hand. A dog at your side whilst filling the troughs keeps the greedy so and so's at bay and the same if the dog trots along in front of the bike - just makes life a little bit easier!

Pulling your hair out.......

Shep is losing hair - by the handful - as I pull it out in frustration.

A busy ten days lay ahead, four farms to gather for and assist at the scannings, that was the plan, - it is already beginning to go pear shaped .

Yesterday saw snow falling, now Shep had a tight schedule. Away by 6.20am would see stock fed for the farmer recovering from his operation before heading out bye to gather by 8am. Nae bother! Except, the slushy snow fall prevented my car from climbing out of the village resulting in returning for the quad and leaving a note for the better half (who was still tucked up in bed) to ring and warn the shepherd out bye I was likely to be running late.

The journey on the quad in the gloom and driving cold slushy snow was not a pleasant one, all the same I was impressed to find myself home to collect the dogs by 7.45am, no mean fete! Except there was a message that visibility was poor and to wait 'til 9.30 to find out how the day was panning out. Oh! I could have had an extra hour in bed!!!

The day panned out to be snowy and miserable with poor visibility and no gathering got done.

Today I was to gather on another farm, thick fog prevented this from happening also, again, I rose early to get the sheep fed before setting away to gather, again I could have had another hour in bed!

Tomorrow I will attempt to head out bye once again to gather, again I will leave home at 6.20am ensuring sheep are fed before reaching my final destination around about 8ish. It is foggy tonight but I daren't presume that will be the case in the morning, I need to get up and get on.

As the weather is preventing sheep being gathered more problems are coming to the fore. The shepherd out bye scans on Tuesday coming and needs three days to gather at the least. The farm I was meant to help gather today scans on Sunday coming and needs at least two days to get everything forward. Both places are considering they may have to contact the scan man and change their dates, an inconvenience for them and the person coming to scan. As for Shep? Well, as two other farms are to be scanned later next week and Shep has the sheep to gather there also it is possible that for all the efforts spent accommodating everyone, organising the diary and ensuring everyone gets the help needed Shep may well find it's not possible to re accommodate them if dates begin to clash.

Shep may find many early mornings getting sheep fed ready to go and help gather and scan only to have the rest of the day off. Days which can not be caught up on, days which do not pay the bills!

Scanning is the only time in the year when sheep must be forward on a set day at a set time. Every other time throughout the year when you gather it is a matter of as and when you can, a day or two lost is not the end of the world. However, with the scanning there is an outside influence - the contract scanning man who has you penciled into his diary and will arrive on that day. Force majeur is always accommodated but these men have hundreds and thousands of sheep to scan and run on a tight schedule. The end of the season is looming for them, which means if you have to re organise your date you may not have to wait many days.

Shep is praying that tomorrow dawns bright, that gathering can commence, scan dates are held to and valuable work is not lost, otherwise the busy ten days will result in many early mornings and very few days work.

On the bright side though.... Oh yes! there has to be a bright side! I have just about completed my books, these past few days of un accommodating weather have forced me into the office, along with the super ser gas heater, I have knuckled down and just about managed to make sense of all those scraps of paper that have been floating around the house for the past year. Books will soon be heading to the accountant and another job scratched off the list. And as for pulling my hair out? Well, I'll save a fortune on hairdressing fees!!

Pregnancy scanning of sheep

Here we are in the middle of the scanning season.

Pregnancy scanning has become an important management tool for the shepherd and farmer.Breeding sheep are scanned from ten to fifteen weeks from the date the tup was introduced to the flock. Anything tupped earlier than the alotted time can still be diagnosed in lamb but it is not so easy for the operator to be able to tell how many lambs she is carrying as the foetus' are too big. The same applies for anything tupped up to a month prior to the scanning taking place, a build up of fluid in the ewes uterus is a guideline to her being in lamb but again it is not possible to tell how many lambs she will be carrying.

Should the tups still be running with the ewes when they are scanned there is a possiblility that any deemed empty (barren or geld) may well be in lamb as the operator can not yet pick up the actual fertilisation of an egg! Another good reason to pull your tups off.

The wintery conditions did cause problems with tups being brought off the ewes this year. I always used to like to have the tups off by 5th January at the latest, that would see the lambing draw to a close by the end of May/first week of June. It is always good to know it is over. Whereas when tups are left running with the ewes lambs can still be appearing in the early summer and these later born lambs don't always grow quickly enough for the sales in the autumn.

An ultra sound scanner is used, very similar to that which would be used to pregnancy scan women. Sheep are scanned standing up, in a crate provided by the person who is doing the scanning. The crate is designed to ensure the sheep will be standing in the correct position to enable the scanner to access her tummy. The probe is moved over the skin infront of the udder region and the resulting pictures appear on a screen in front of the operator. Most scanning machines are now battery operated therefore enabling sheep to be scanned anywhere where there is penning available.

I first saw sheep scanned in the late '80's and in those days there was a great deal of man handling needed. The sheep were caught, turned and sat on their backsides with the wool being pulled or cut off their lower bellies before then being presented to the scanning person in the sitting position to be scanned. Things have moved on a lot and today it is easier on both man and beast with the ewes just having to be fed into the crate one at a time whilst the operator sits (usually in an old car seat) and just has to reach his arm under the sheeps belly to be able to scan her tummy - no wool removal or anything - wonderful!

The skill of the person doing the scanning enables them to read the screen infront of them and work out how many lambs the sheep is or is not carrying.

A keyboard is pressed enabling the computerised monitor to count each single, twin,triplet or geld reading which is taken therefore giving a total count and lambing percentage at the end of the proceedings.

The picture below shows the farmer putting his own mark onto the sheeps wool to represent what ever it is she is carrying. Most scanning operators do now prefer to mark their own sheep as they find it easier and quicker. Most hill sheep will have a single lamb in them so these tend not to be given a mark. Twins will be marked with a different colour to any which are geld enabling you to know what is what at a later date.

You'll also notice that the scanning man has his hand on a handle which he is about to pull to enable the front of the crate to open and so release the sheep ready for the next one to walk in. He needs his wits about him as he also has to shut the front of the crate before the next sheep escapes and there are many of the woolly critters who try to seize the opportunity of a get away only prevented by the speed and dexterity of the guy operating the crate.

I'm sure I would be useless at it - by the time you've read the monitor, pressed the keypad, released the handle and then closed it as quickly as possible - reminds me of rubbing your tummy and patting your head, a thing I'm not capable of!

Spring is in the air

Thought I'd share this with you all. I'm a bit late in getting the photo as this lamb is now a month old, didn't have the camera last time.

When the weather picked up in mid January Shep's first port of call was to get over to Cumbria to dose and copper a flock of sheep. I have known this particular farmer all my working life, we met initially at Galloway cattle sales, he bred them and I went with the boss looking to buy them. When I ended up self employed he found out and duly employed me to assist with his flock.

When I turned up in January he was telling me he was soon to have his eightieth birthday, which did surprise me somewhat. Anyhow, I went off to gather one lot of sheep whilst the farmer stood on the road to stop the traffic and turn the ewes in the right direction. As I entered the field I could see the lamb with it's mother at the far side and said "see you've got a lamb". It fell on deaf ears (quite literally), I raised my voice and repeated the utterance to get the reply "Er, Aye" which basically meant he had heard me but had no idea what I had said.

However, once we had the sheep in the pens and we were at close quarters with them the elderly farmer said "there's a lamb! I've no idea how that happened" I couldn't help but laugh and have a bit leg pull " If you don't know how that happened at your age there's no hope for any of us!"

Obviously the farmer had meant he did not know how a tup had managed to have access to one of his ewes but it did amuse me for the rest of the day! What is it they say about simple minds........?

The lamb looked far cuter a month back, being only a matter of days old it was like a breath of fresh air after all the snow we had been battling through. Mathematics showed the ewe would have been tupped in August.

Anyhow, as said, I was back there to inoculate the flock prior to them lambing, they are due in the third week of March - slightly earlier than around here. They are actually meant to be lambing at Easter as the farmers grandson was to take time off work to lamb them - the dates for Easter must have got mixed up as they are going to be a fortnight into the lambing before Easter arrives, I'm told this was due to a 'senior moment'!

This farmer in Cumbria has always enjoyed his sheep and loved his Galloway cattle. In 2001 when foot and mouth ran wild throughout the country the farmers in this particular area were told to have their sheep culled in order to try and keep their cattle safe. It was a couple of years before sheep were re introduced onto this farm, by this time the farmers son had taken the helm and really did not like sheep, however his father did and couldn't help but get some more.

Having always had Greyfaced ewes that is what was bought back onto the farm. Greyfaced ewes are the same as what we call Mules except these are the cumbrian version and are out of the Swaledale ewe to the bluefaced leicester (there are many in Northumberland the same way bred and we still call them mules).

Anyhow, after a year it was decided to reintroduce a few more sheep, the farmer had heard of Lleyn sheep (pronounced Clin (I think)), these are a welsh breed and meant to be an 'easy care' breed which encouraged the farmer to give them a go. The sheep which he bought seem to have many variations of the type but basically they are a mid sized, white, tight skinned creature.

These photos give you a vague idea of the beasts, you might also note the tup in the fore ground. I said in an earlier blog I'd met my first Berrichon de Cher tup, well, this is he. Just a tup hogg at the moment and it will be interesting to see what he breeds like.

The Lleyns are not such prolific breeders as the Greyfaced ewes and are apparently lazy when they lamb. Having been crossed with a Texel in past years the lambs are often very short but the ewes seem to share this tendency, so it's not likely to be the fault of the sire.

It is refreshing to work for a farmer, now in his eighties, who is still trying new ideas - it gives us both something to look forward to and discuss. I wont be back there 'til well after lambing time but I will be looking forward to seeing the lambs off these 'strange' sheep.