Our sheep year always starts in the late autumn with the rams going on ready for the ewes giving birth in the spring. It is always a great time of year as the cycle starts over and you get to select certain blood lines to go with certain rams. The ewes are in good order and thriving ready for the oncoming winter. As those fit rams get released into the flocks you get a real sense that you are committing to at least one more lambing and another sheep cycle. We are also selling fat lambs and this year they are making good prices which gives us some heart that the tremendous effort is all worth it!
We have recently been to the annual Whiteface Dartmoor sheep breeder’s dinner which is held to celebrate the sheep year; we get together as a group of breeders to have a good catch up and hand out a hat full of cups won throughout the year. It is also where the flock competition results are announced and cups are awarded. Well, this year Tom and Billy came with us and were very excited to experience the bright lights of a sheep dinner. Billy of course, being the most competitive boy ever, was aware we could be up for winning a prize or two. He spent much of the dinner going through the twenty or so well polished cups which were up for grabs, trying to establish which ones we have won previously and which ones we could have a shot at this time! We had a lovely dinner; speeches were made and it was time to present the silverware! It came to our category for the flock competition and we were very lucky and came second in both the large flock of ewes and ewe lamb categories, which given the competition, I was pretty pleased with. Billy was up like a shot to collect the prizes and monies. The last category given out by the judges is the best overall flock which I hadn’t given much thought to as we had come second twice. So, I was very surprised when we were announced as the winners! Billy once again was up like a shot, beaming from ear to ear to collect a big rosette and a fantastic silver cup. Needless to say, the trophy and rosettes now have pride of place in Billy’s bedroom.
It‘s great to see both the boys enjoying farming and Tom is becoming a great help as he gets older. His flock of Herdwick ewes are growing, although they can be a bit troublesome at times! They are very good at escaping and finding their way into the gardens and horse paddocks bellow the farm in the village. My neighbours have been very good, but I have had to selectively sell the worst culprits! The cows have now all returned from their summer and autumn grazing and most are in the barns for the winter to protect the fields and the cows from the worst of the Dartmoor winter weather.
We are very lucky to live in the Meavy valley with the nearby pub, The Royal Oak. Steve the landlord is moving on after 17 years in the pub. Gemma and I met pretty much the same time as he took the pub on and we started reminiscing about the great times we have had down there over the years – as a courting couple, stag do, pre-wedding drinks, romantic strolls to the pub, wetting babies’ heads, kids running around on the green as we grab a drink, shoot dinners, Meavy Oak Fairs, New Year’s Eves and many more times in between! It's a fantastic local cosy pub and thank you Steve and your team for the memories. Good luck in your next chapter and long live The Royal Oak!