A pleasant find

Bouncing around in what only could be described as being in the middle of no where Shep stumbled upon something. By bouncing around I would like to add I was riding a quad bike on overgrown, rough, un grazed moorland, I wasn't actually physically bouncing around like a chimpanzee, although it is fair to say I have been known to do such things, just not on this particular occasion.

There I was, out in the middle of no where on a quest - trying to track down some wayward sheep, when I spotted a deer. Nowt unusual with that, there are roe deer a plenty in the Tarset valley and many to be seen on this particular hill ground which is surrounded by forestry.

This deer acted in a different fashion to many which you stumble upon. Usually a deer takes flight, all you see is the white rump disappearing into the distance. This one behaved in a totally different manner.

I would easily be 100 yards off it when it just seemed to spring up from nowhere, initially I thought little of the fact, just another deer. Until......... it only ran a few yards before stopping and heading back to the spot it had sprung from. As I was still bouncing along on the quad it then ran away further, but hesitated, stopped, looked back before disappearing over the edge of the hillside. Strange behaviour.

Now if that deer had been a sheep I would have guessed it had a lamb lying back there somewhere, why else would it hesitate and head back before running further away?

I looked across to the spot where I had first been aware of the deer and thought I could see something moving. Time to stop the bike and go and investigate I thought.

All movement had ceased as I slowly and quietly walked towards the spot, just over the edge of the hill I could hear a deer barking, she had definitely left something behind.

 

And sure enough, I wasn't disappointed, as tucked away in the long, overgrown heather was her fawn. A roe deer fawn. Acting dead. Squatting down, lying flat, pretending it wasn't there. Take flight and the hunter might hunt, lie and act dead and all may be well. It had been well taught for it's tender youth.

 

 

Moss lay away back next to the bike, curious as to what I was up to but wiser than to disobey his orders, he remained alert, waiting to be called, although that wasn't going to happen.

 

I took these photographs as quickly as I could, the photographer in me wanting to remove annoying foliage to enable a better shot, the shepherd in me telling me not to loiter, leave well alone and move on as quickly as possible. The doe was still calling, although out of sight she wasn't far away and so I retraced my steps, mounted the trusty stead and bounced off leaving mother and offspring to be reunited.

It is hard to believe, that this is Sheps first ever encounter with a roe deer fawn, I have seen many youngsters trotting alongside their mothers but never come across a little chap of just a few days old. It doesn't take much to cheer one up and this was one of those little things which puts a day on a high, all that bouncing about on the 18th June was well worth it!

An update - August

The last update was in July http://blog.tarset.co.uk/2011/07/update.html I have had to re read it to remember what had gone on. Here we are in the beginning of September and I'm wondering where August went, in fact I'm actually wondering where the hell the summer went.

It has been a disappointing summer weather wise and the vein continued through August and into the beginning of September. It has to be said though that at the moment the weather is mild if not damp at times. There is still a lot of grass around although the hills are dying back, the greens are beginning to fade and the first signs of autumn are peeking through.

The heather has given us a tremendous show this year, with the pollen rising like dust when you travelled through it and the scent strong enough to cause you to sneeze. I recall one day when Moss, Kale and I had been gathering in the Rede for 5 hours, the dogs had been bounding around in the heather for most of that duration, you could see 'clouds' of pollen dust being left in their wake. Once home I let them out of the car and into the garden, I was surprised when Kale shook himself and a cloud of dust rose from his coat! It is unfortunate that there has not been enough decent days to truly enjoy the purple blanket in all it's glory but there have been windows, the odd decent day when the depth of purple has been accentuated by sunlight.

Lamb sales have commenced and the trade seems to be strong, breeding sheep are required and making good money at the moment, the fat trade has dropped slightly as more lambs come on the market but compared to a few years back it is definitely nothing to grumble about. Farmers might be smiling! Shep has yet to find the time to attend a mart (sheep sale) but I will one day.

As for Shep, well, busy as usual. I see in the last posting I had finished my clipping........ and then started again! The few days I gave to the other shearer weren't always plain sailing, much of it was outdoor shearing or for farmers who didn't have much room to house sheep, which made organisation difficult due to the fact the showers insisted on falling.

They were 'relaxed' days, after all, they weren't my jobs, I had no organising to do I just had to turn up on the farms on the allocated days. The final days clipping was on Sunday 28th August. That is late. The season up here runs through June and July and sometimes into the beginning of August. The end of August is definitely getting late. However, there is the train of thought that wool growth is determined by the length of day and temperature and those who clip late claim their sheep are wooled up the same as everyone elses once the winter gets here.

I have to say as August drew on I really didn't feel like clipping, the days were getting cooler and shorter and somehow it didn't feel right, it was the wrong season. I was dipping, spaening (weaning) then heading off for a days clipping - very peculiar!

The final tally? 3,993 was the total on the 28th August. Since then I have clipped 7 with hand shears that have come in at the spaening which were missed at the clipping gather and I know of at least one more sheep to clip when I head off shortly to dip. So the tally to date is a straight 4,000. Should I track down the elusive one on the dipping day I'll be able to say I clipped over 4,000!

It may seem like a huge number of sheep but believe you me it isn't, not by professional shearers standards anyhow and when I was younger and fitter I used to clip more than that. When you consider the duration I seem to have been on clipping it seems even less!! T'will do for me tho', may well be the last time I shear quite so many - who knows?

The final days clipping was a challenge. I usually rise to a challenge but have to say I felt I could have walked away from this one. Out door clipping, showers threatening all day and the wind was blowing a hoolly. The clipping trailer never needed loose wool brushing off it, in fact the person wrapping had to be quick to grab the fleece before it too blew off the trailer. I don't think I have ever clipped with a hat on before, the T shirt never saw daylight although I did get my coat off eventually,I still had a further three layers on though. Cheviots were the order of the day. Yes I know, I like cheviots, but they are south country cheviots, these were cheviot crosses and north country cheviots. The north country cheviot being the bigger bruisier cousin of the southy. The clipping trailer was set up outside the sheep pens, once off the trailer the sheep had a 100 acres to disappear on, there was little room for mistakes!

There were a couple of dodgy moments. A north country cheviot tup caused some consternation. A big white, fat, woolly, heavy beast he was, whom I struggled with and eventually got tipped out of the race, just as his backside hit the deck he sprung to his feet with me hanging on for grim death. My technique was anything but professional but I have to say not a swear word passed my lips, due to the fact all breath needed conserving to hang on to the beast! I was still dancing around on the spot doing a poor attempt at being in control and hoping to god neither of us fell off the trailer, or if we did hopefully it was him and not me when the other shearer came to the rescue. Having finished his sheep, which he was clipping alongside of me, he came across and said "Here, I'll clip that for you" my dogged determination left me in a flash and I never once considered disagreeing, a huge feeling of relief overcame me as I passed my unruly charge over to a man 20 years my senior and without even a tinge of guilt! Out of the five tups to clip that day I only managed one! One was plenty!

I rang home at lunch time. Knowing the other half was away out working I left a message on the answerphone, hoping he would return home before myself and asking for the fire to be lit and stoked up with coal, damper on and water getting heated. All I could think of was a long hot soak in the bath, clipping in the cold isn't good for you, clipping with a hat on and top coat isn't good for you. There were times the windchill hit my hands and I wondered if I was holding on to the handpiece or not! It's times like this when you wish you had an immersion heater, when you know you could walk in the house and find the water was hot. Fortunately he did return before I did and the water was boiling in the hot tank enabling me to enjoy my soak and unstiffen my chilled body.

There is nothing worse than finishing the clipping on a low. I was so pleased to be finished and could easily have chucked the clipping machine away, however, it is relatively new and worth a fair bit of money so that would be unwise! Not only that but I do really enjoy clipping, t'was just one of those days and the memory will be in the past when I hang the machine up again next June and set off on another clipping season.

August saw the clipping over for another year, Falstone and Bellingham shows over for another year, sheep spaened (weaned) once again for another year and finally August itself over again for another year. Where does the time go? The nights are really beginning to cut in, dark by 8.30pm now, although still light at 6am which ain't too bad. The beauty of autumn will soon be upon us with winter following -short days and time to recuperate - with the added bonus of spring hot on its heels!

Hill farming – its future?

Sheep trade has been good this back end, a huge relief to those who are dependant on sheep production for a living. It is a roller coaster of a ride with many highs and lows, obviously dealing with livestock and natures elements there will be many highs and lows but there are also the pitfalls of economics – money, cash flow.

The sheep sector has had many knocks in recent years, the last being 2007, an outbreak of foot and mouth linked to laboratories in Pirbright and the consequent movement restrictions enforced both nationally and internationally brought about a natural lack of confidence in the industry especially with it being close behind the devastating outbreak of 2001.

When farmers have money they reinvest in their own industry and the many networks which support it, when they don’t have money they tighten their belts, expand their overdrafts and loans and basically baton down the hatches and try to battle through the storm.

So why should the sheep sector have a decent trade this back end? Shep doesn’t fully understand all the elements but I have been lead to believe by press reports that there are far fewer sheep in New Zealand than there were, reports of 3-4million head being dispersed of last year and the probability of more this coming year due to a change in direction towards dairying. Why would New Zealand have any affect on our sales? Imports. There are thousands of tons of New Zealand lamb meat imported into this country every year. If that lamb isn’t coming from New Zealand it has to be found elsewhere.

Elsewhere brings about the question of the strength or weakness of the pound, international exchange rates don’t always provide the returns required to match the demands which then brings in the question of whether exports are viable or not. This leaves the option of the product to be found on your own doorstep - British lamb.

I’m sure there’ll be many other factors influencing the successful sale of fat lambs, such as a smaller lamb crop throughout the country this year due to the inclement weather over the winter and spring and one wholly important factor – the dwindling number of breeding sheep in Britain.

The dwindling number of breeding sheep in Britain. This statement brings me back to the title of this posting Hill Farming - its future?

Hill Farming and hill sheep have always traditionally been the mainstay of the sheep sector in this country. The tough, hardy hill ewe living out there in the wilds of the countryside nonchalantly munching away on heather and course hill grasses is the grand dam of them all. She eventually retires to lowland (in-bye) pastures where she’ll find herself producing a cross bred lamb which will become a lowland breeding ewe producing all those prime fat lambs which find themselves on the butchers shelves from late spring onwards.

The hill ewes own lambs are later born and slower maturing, some finding themselves ready to be eaten in the autumn whilst others are sold in-bye and fatten as the winter runs through, keeping the butchers shelves full until the prime lambs are available later in the spring. It is a system that has worked well and there is no doubt about it the hill ewe (what ever her breed) is a hugely important link in the chain.

Unfortunately her numbers are dwindling and have been for many years now. She is not dying out, unable to withstand the harsh climatic conditions she lives in – no she is bred for such conditions, it is in her nature to be a survivor, a domestic animal who is as close to being a wild beast as could be found. She can follow her ancestry back generations, living and surviving on the same ground as her fore bearers before her. Not unlike an elephant that has a memory able to recall all the best watering holes regardless of the severity of a drought, the hill ewe also knows where the shelter is, the best foraging at certain times of the year, the hidden dangers on the ground where she belongs – in shepherding speak it is known as hefting and acclimatisation. Hefting being knowledge of where they belong, acclimatisation being bred to withstand that particular climate unique to the ground on which they live.

So? What’s the problem?

The problem is the gradual and yet escalating demise of hill sheep.

Hill farming has seen too many years where the financial return was poor, it is a way of life and for that reason alone it has continued. The modern day sees governing bodies showing a grave concern for the environment. The countryside is a beautiful place and ought not to be spoilt is basically the message which was being put across and one which I would fully agree with. However, these self same governing bodies can tend to be somewhat short sighted.

Financial incentives were offered to farmers, a compensation package if you like. Get shot of a percentage of your flock, allow the countryside to flourish and payments from the EU will cover the shortfall. These financial incentives came under the heading of ‘Countryside Stewardships’ and ‘Environmental Schemes’.

To many it would be a life line, to others it would be a financial opportunity not to miss. Either way it has worrying consequences.

I’ve mentioned before on forays up into Scotland that there were vast areas of scrub hill ground, not a sheep to be seen anywhere – is this to be the future for Northumberland hill farms also?

Do we want hill ground which is unkempt, unloved, left to become a wilderness? Do visitors want to go out and hike the higher ground, struggling to find a footing through thigh deep heather or twisting ankles whilst trying to negotiate the thick coarse humps and bumps of deep hill grasses? No sheep tracks to follow to ease the journey, willows, birch and self seeded spruce trees causing dense undesirable obstacles? Beautiful wild flowers smothered out of their natural habitat, bird and wildlife in declining numbers – is that really what the great British public would like to see when they come out to enjoy the hill ground in their country?

Unfortunately that may well be where we are heading.

I was relieved to read in the press lately that one Northumberland farmer has spoken out at a conference held in Newcastle. The article states that “Stuart Nelson received the loudest applause of the day after an impassioned speech about the harsh realities of bringing up a young family in the shadow of the Cheviot Hills” I take my hat off to him, it is a huge relief to hear of someone willing to stand up in public and put the views across which many of us share.

I noticed in the local rag today an advert for a 300 ewe reduction sale from a hill farm up the Breamish valley, there was a 600 reduction last week off a farm in the Coquet valley, also in the same week 300 stock sheep went under the hammer off another farm up the Coquet. Last year was the same and previous years too.

I spoke last Friday to a farmer I used to neighbour in my early shepherding years, he went into an Environmental Scheme nine years ago and claims it was the worst thing to do for his stock, his ground is overgrown and his sheep aren’t doing well for him, financially he felt it was the only way forward at the time. The scheme has one year left to run and he can’t wait to try and get his sheep numbers back to their original state.

Getting sheep numbers back? That ain’t so easy either. Hefted and acclimatised, remember those two words? We’re not talking about fields here, nice grassy ring fenced small areas of ground where you can go to the auction and buy a handful of sheep and they’ll graze away merrily. We’re talking about vast acres of hard ground, buy in a field sheep and it will pine away and die, it may be struck down with louping ill as it would have no immunity to ticks or it may just wander off its heft and never be seen again.

One hill shepherd I know had the daunting task of restocking hill ground after the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001. Stock was bought in off similar ground to his own, some off neighbouring farms. Fences were erected and herding twice a day for over three years was necessary to teach the sheep where they belonged – to heft them on to the ground, almost ten years on this was the first year he stood back as the sheep left the shearing shed and he watched them head back onto their own ground unaided.

Many who have decreased their ewe flocks have done so by selling draft ewes at younger ages, therefore keeping sheep on the hill only up to 3 or 4years old where as they would often remain until they were six years old. By doing this they can increase their flock size naturally by retaining the 4, 5 and 6 year old sheep on the hill and keep more replacement ewe lambs each year. Unfortunately to do this there will be no spare ewe lambs or draft ewes to sell for a number of years which in itself will cause financial pressure.

I don’t know what the answer is regarding the future of hill farming, I do know that farmers are the custodians of the countryside and they are the ones which governing bodies ought to be listening to, an overgrazed hill is of no use to anyone – environmentalists or farmers and neither is an under grazed hill but at the end of the day it is the farmers that know this, their livelihoods depend on it, they understand land management, conservation and livestock, they have been at the job for generations just like the flocks that they tend, hopefully someone like Stuart Nelson will have got the grey cells working and the future of our hills and those that work in them will be secure.

Interestingly enough an article in the Scottish farming press mentioned a carved walking stick which is to be presented to the Pope by a Fort William crofter along with a prayer for the widespread re-introduction of the Blackfaced breed to Scotland’s hills……….

Autumn has arrived

I don't know that I have ever seen such a crop of Rowan berries on the tree at our cottage, they appear to be hanging like grapes and to date the starlings haven't turned up to strip the branches of their glory. The berries are a sure sign that autumn is heading our way.

There are fungi a plenty. Interestingly enough the edible mushroom appeared very early in the season, finding itself gathered from the pasture ground and into the frying pan in late July, probably due to the wet/damp weather we were experiencing at the time, it has cropped well and is still to be found and enjoyed.

The heather is coming into it's own, a tremendous show of purple bloom to be appreciated on the hill tops throughout the area.

At the present moment Tarset is enjoying a mini summer, a heatwave even, much appreciated by all after the previous weeks of inclement weather. The heather is taking advantage of this as are numerous bees and butterflies. The peacock butterfly is to be seen all over the hill ground at the moment.

The weather is so good that the last fields of silage are being picked up. Some is making into very good hay (hay is dried grass whereas silage is damp grass). Bent (strong hill grasses) out on the hills is even being cut and baled up. Bent hay is a good feed and often overlooked in modern times, it was pretty usual in a good spell such as this to cut the hill grass and bale it up then lead it to the hay huts situated out on the hill at each cut of sheep, this enabled the sheep to have fodder during the harsh winter months.

Shep finished clipping on 18th August with a final tally of over 3,250, it was rounded down rather than up. Sheep were flying clipping by this time of the season and it was a pleasure to finish on a 'high' and exactly three months to the date from when the first sheep of the season was shorn.

Much time has been spent dipping, gathering, spaening, dressing lambs during and since the last sheep was shorn. Someday I'll cover some of these jobs on this blog.

So, it sounds as though I'm talking about summer - silage, hay, clipping....... and yet I'm claiming that Autumn has arrived. Well to start with the days are drawing in, light at 6am, dark at 9pm. There have been one or two night frosts. The brackens are turning (dying off). We are getting into the sheep sale season. Lambs are being spaened (weaned) off their mothers. All in all the signs are there, there is no getting away from the fact that the autumn season is arriving - after all, it is September!

I'll leave you to dwell on the fact that the summer is really officially over whilst you peruse these two shots of Scabious, whether budding or in bloom it is a truly beautiful piece of natures architecture.

Kale goes to the hill

Kale was 19 weeks old when these pictures were taken, he's growing. No longer a cute cuddly little chap he's beginning to look like a miniature dog. In his short life to date he has been introduced to quite a variety of experiences and has taken almost all of them in his stride. A very confident young fellow who is extremely keen on sheep. You may think it doesn't quite look that way in this shot as he isn't looking at the sheep which are moving away in front of him, that is because his eye has been caught by Moss who is out of shot bringing sheep in from the right. Time to get the little fella up on my lap on the bike or the sheep may well find themselves scattered all over the hill!

The heather is just beginning to come into bloom and I was expecting Kale to start sneezing as he found himself covered in pollen.

Although still young enough to head out on a hill gather I do like to introduce young dogs to rough ground, this is the sort of ground they will be working on in the future and they have to learn how to handle it, to bounce through the deep heather, cross drains and streams and generally get sure footed on unpredictable terrain.

Not only does he seem to possess a long tongue his tail also seems to be very long, I can't help but think that should he grow into his tail he will end up being a very big dog!

The gather took a couple of hours and for all young Kale thought life was great fun and he was more than prepared to bound around for miles out on the hill he did find himself getting a lift on the bike every now and again. His bones are still young and I really wouldn't want to run the legs off him, also it is a good learning curve to have to travel on the bike out on rough ground, something he didn't appreciate too much on such an exciting day as this, but one day, when he is feeling the pace, he'll hopefully be wiser and accept a lift graciously.

coppering ewes

Ten weeks before they are due to lamb is the optimum time to copper ewes, or so it says on the label. We don't rightly know at which date each ewe is going to lamb so tend to go from ten weeks from the start of the lambing, which does actually give a bit of lea way if necessary.

So why would you copper ewes? Copper deficiency causes something called swayback in the lambs when they are born and once born with swayback there is no way of curing the problem (or not that I am aware of).

Swayback (sometimes called swing back) is exactly what the word suggests, the lambs show swaying in their backs, sometimes so severe it almost looks like a paralysis of the back end with hips and rear legs trailing behind them. Milder cases often don't show unless the lamb is stressed. For instance they can trot along merrily with their mother in the fields and possibly appear almost normal, set the dog around and try to gather them up and the lamb will start wobbling on the back end, the back legs will tip over as it rushes and panics and the signs of swayback become only too obvious.

Treating sheep with copper is a preventative approach to the problem. Not all the lambs will suffer from swayback but those that do have a difficult existence and are unable to be put forward for sale, it's often kinder to put them down at birth and adopt another lamb onto the ewe. Therefore, it is kinder all round to prevent the problem from arising in the first place, especially when the cost could work out at less than 20p per lamb.

There are some sheep which don't suffer from copper deficiency. Hill ewes, running on black ground (heather) do not suffer from the deficiency, obviously heather must naturally harbour copper enabling the sheep to have sufficient in their system. Pure bred Texel sheep are also able to retain copper in their systems and so don't require coppering.

These are important facts to know because not only do sheep suffer from copper deficiency but they can also suffer from copper poisoning, the last thing you would want to do is administer copper to animals which don't require it. Over the years through trial and error it has become apparent to farmers and shepherds which sheep are susceptible to either complaint. Basically, those running on green ground or less acidic ground are the ones often vulnerable to copper deficiency.

One farm I work on has a black heather hill, the farmer took the tenancy for this farm a few years back and knew the ewes wouldn't need coppering, he kept the older ewes in the field ground and started a fresh flock of in-bye sheep which were retired off the hill, ewes which had never had any trouble with a deficiency of copper, within a couple of years he was having swaybacked lambs born to these ewes, not many but too many. That in-bye flock is now inoculated with copper and no swayback lambs are born anymore. The hill ewes are still fine as they are still out on the heather. Lesson learnt.

A few lambings back there was trouble in the shed I was lambing in. Hired to do a night lambing on mule ewes which were housed in a shed and things started to go wrong. A few sheep were 'going off' pre lambing. Odd ewes were beginning to go dour, lethargic. Now there are a number of reasons for such things, mild twin lamb disease was suspected, however after lambing down more ewes were going off - lying around, not interested in their lambs. The nearest thing I could put it down to was milk fever.

There is nothing more frustrating, you want to do a good job, do the best for the sheep and nothing seems to work, a truly disheartening position to be in. At the time lamb prices were very poor, sheep had little value and vets bills were high. Eventually the farmer succumbed, I whinged sufficiently until he was either going to sack me or call in the vet, I was lucky the vet was called in.

Blood tests were taken from a cross section of the sheep, healthy ones, poorly ones, in between ones. A couple of days went by and the results came through - mild copper poisoning! The problem was rectified by turning the sheep out onto grass during the day and the feed merchant was notified and swallowed humble pie. The wrong sheep feed had been delivered with the last order and it contained copper. It was a hugely frustrating time for Shep but an interesting one too. A situation I had never come across before - a learning curve.

So, in January ewes are finding themselves being either injected with a copper solution or having copper boluses administered orally. Some administer these boluses at tup time as they are slow releasing and cover the copper problem for six months, others wait until the ten weeks before lambing to administer them.

The above ewes are a prime example of the in-bye type sheep living on green ground which require copper. The ugly whiter faced things in the foreground are the bluefaced leicesters, the browny faced ones are mules and one white faced one towards the rear left corner is a texel cross which wouldn't have been coppered.

Above we have a 'gun' used for the administration of copper bullets. The nozzle of the gun is put into the sheep's mouth and pulling the trigger operates a spring which then shoots the bullet to the back of the throat, care has to be taken as you don't want to damage the sheep's throat and you don't want her to spit the bullet out either. The bullets are full of small copper filings and the coating 'melts' when in contact with moisture (can be difficult to use on wet days). The bullet finds itself in the stomach where the coating dissolves leaving the copper filings to be slowly absorbed into the bloodstream.

The other option is to inject a copper sulphate solution by means of an automatic syringe (see below) attached to a bottle of the solution. This is injected directly into the muscle, again taking care not to inject in a site which may cause tendon or nerve damage. There is a plate of muscle either side of the tail head which many years ago a vet student who was lambing with me advised was one of the best places to inject as there is nothing sitting in there which could be damaged, however, on lean sheep this is not always the ideal place due to it being a small area of muscle. Everyone has their preferred sites.

Occasionally syringes break down, bullets get spat out and aren't noticed until they are on the ground, or sheep break out of the dosing pen and mix with others. It's a shepherd's worst nightmare and one thing we dare not do is treat the whole lot again in the hope of catching the ones which were missed. We would not like to inadvertently poison the sheep. When such problems arise fingers are crossed and it is hoped the one or two which somehow missed treatment will be the one or two which weren't likely to give birth to a swaybacked lamb.