building the sheep shed

Work is well underway for the new sheep shed. Although Borough farm looks like a building site I’m hoping that by the end of next week (the third week of February) the shed will be almost complete, with just the concrete alley ways left to do. As soon as it’s finished I’ll be bringing the rest of the flock in, so this year the whole flock will be under cover for the start of lambing

return of the natives

Borough farm is surrounded by steep woodland and each winter as the grass stops growing, I always seem to end up with half a dozen ewes taking themselves off for a better life in the forest. And it’s not just any old sheep, they are invariably led by one black-faced ewe, (the ‘legend of Borough woods’ for anyone who has watched that episode of  ‘Mist’ on the telly)  who seems to feel more at home amongst the thicket and bramble of the deepest woodland. A couple of weeks ago a neighbor reported seeing some sheep in the woods, so I set off on the annual search, accompanied by Mist Jake and Ernie.

After a little over an hour, the errant ewes were spotted by Jake, and although they were determined to run in any direction other than back to the , the dogs were up to the task and six ewes were eventually captured and will now spend the rest of the winter in the shed with the rest of the flock!