Moving the sheep

With an eye on today's wether forecast I decided to move the sheep around first thing this morning. At first light it was frosty but still and dry. I amalgamated the small sub-groups of sheep into two: ewes in one field and rams in another. Our two breeding rams have been with the ewes for five weeks and hopefully have done what is expected of them. We might scan them otherwise we will have to wait until the end of March/beginning of April to find out. The two rams were joined by our three remaining ram lambs, whilst the adult ewes were joined by two ewe lambs who will be kept for future breeding.

The process of sorting the flock involved a number of different manoeuvres to ensure that everyone ended up in the correct location and without any chasing around or inappropriate interest by any of the rams with the ewe lambs who are not intended for breeding this year. It also meant dismantling a temporary stretch of electric fencing and collecting up and storing the sheep hurdles. All went smoothly and the task was complete by 9am.

About 10am the expected change in the weather arrived - the worst sort of weather for being outdoors: very cold, very windy and continuous rain for the rest of the day. Fortunately for us, unpleasant as the weather was, we avoided the destructive winds of Storm Arwen that those in the North and in Scotland have experienced today.

Wiltshire Horn ewes, heads down
early this morning