Herdies and a walk on the Sitheans

 

Putting the tups out

 

Tupping time!

We bought a new Herdwick tup earlier this week, and he went out with the Herdwick ewes on Thursday.   We were worried there wasn't going to be a Rare Breeds sale at Dingwall this year as the one earlier in the year was cancelled.  So when I saw a Herdwick tup for sale on Facebook, in Scotland, we contacted the seller and here we are, proud owners of Richie Gray! 

Peter the Suffolk tup went out with the Cheviots (and few remained Zwartble crosses) last Sunday.  Whenever Farmer went to check them, he would leave the ewes and start following the quad bike. Farmer deduced he was hungry and started taking him a few nuts each day.  

It has been very wet! 

Here is Richie Gray in his finery.

 

Autumn sheep work

Sheep don't automatically know how to eat hay or the sheep food we give them as a supplement.  Every year in the autumn Farmer has to teach the hoggs (the ewe lambs) how to feed.  This involves gathering them in and putting them in to the building.  He puts a ewe or two in with them to set a good example.  It takes a few days but gradually they catch on that the lamb nuts being sprinkled in to the troughs are rather delicious and they start to tuck in.  Similarly they start eating the hay slowly too!   Occasionally we have problems with one or two of them becoming unwell from a vitamin deficiency and so Farmer has a bottle of Vitamin B1 on hand to give them which sorts them out.  

By the end of the winter the hoggs will be used to being fed and know exactly what is in the feed bag Farmer might be carrying with him.  This will stand them in good stead later on should they ever be ill and need to be brought into the shed, or if they are having twins and they need some supplementary feeding. 

Here they are tucking to the hay in the hay feeders having finished most of the nuts in the troughs! 

The Herdwicks are a flock on their own, and they always enjoy the sight of a feed bag over Farmer's shoulder.  Because they live on the in-bye fields they are fed most of the winter.