With Christmas approaching, you may have missed that, the shopping centre had the usual donkey and sheep gathered for show. No reindeer this year, they must be appearing elsewhere, yet the kids, and indeed many adults, loved the sight of such animals at close quarters.
Considering the town is only about two miles from one end to the other and is then surrounded by fields, sadly all too often now filled with developers lining their pockets on homes people here cannot afford, fields which once were filled with sheep and cows as well as the agricultural produce we often see today. Many remember the cattle market in full swing, this went on into the 60's at least, the High Street lined with men standing alongside their Bull showing him off to the crowds while trying to sell. Whether sheep were still seen then I am not sure but the older generation would be keen to be reminded of what was once a twice weekly market, animals and all.
One of the problems Gordon Brown had to deal with early in his premiership was the outbreak of 'Foot & Mouth which struck this area hard as many animals were seen not far from the town. Vast numbers were destroyed in an effort to curtail the disease and many farmers did not return to animal husbandry for many years. So it is rare to see live sheep so close to us and we all enjoyed it, the sheep just chewed and ignored us for the most part being used to being shown off, mum ewe of course happily content with her new born lamb, three weeks old. The farmer told me he did not expect a lamb at this time but the ram, he has one ram for a hundred sheep, lucky boy, the ram somehow got near mum and lo a lamb appeared. There was another 'lamb' three months old hiding at the back but this was almost full size, they grow quickly. Mum was a sheep designed to produce meat, the hidden lamb designed to produce wool, the difference was striking. The wool eater just hid and chewed away ignoring the prodding of young fingers.
Some of us know more about sheep than can be found here of course...
5 comments:
All too much about sheep....
MOnty died this spring...a lung infection we did not catch in time....and he is a great loss. I miss the clack of his hoofs on the tiles when coming to see Leo and the huge groan he let out when sitting down beside him. I also miss his deterrent effect on wouldbe visitors. We have planted a particularly vicious cactus on his grave and Julio will - eventually - produce a plaque with his 'kills' on it...rather like a wartime bomber.
Fly, Oh you never mentioned this! How sad. I feel bad now. The farmer however would understand how you feel, the ewe is his ewe, he would not be selling this one. Howsad.
Don't feel bad...he didn't catch his cold from you.
I do miss him though...no curled lip when the food was not coming fast enough...no epicene baa when he heard you nearby...and no more menacing head down charge when displeased!
Fly, I miss him also.
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