As autumn descends this mild weather has not only been spoiling us, but the ewes now either with the ram or waiting for his arrival are looking well, some would say too well! But if last winters cold and snow can stay away then hopefully those twin baring ewes won’t have to work quite as hard this winter.

Time will tell and I am sure Dartmoor will claim its rent one way or another! It will be nice to see the back of the ewes for a day or two though, all we seem to have been doing lately is gathering, dosing, dipping. Now the ewes are settled we will turn our focus to the cattle.

As the weather turns on Dartmoor the inevitable housing looms large! As we know all to well, once those cows are in, they are there till April. We Dartmoor hill folk like our freedom, and the thought of being tied to a cows tail and the constraints of routine for the next five months always fills me with dread. Trying to find a positive however, once there in and the feeding routine settles down, we no longer have to dread winter we will have spring to look forward to, trouble is it seems a long way off!

I have saved the best news till last though. Whiteface Dartmoor Sheep, a forgotten breed until some arrived on Countryfile last week. Let’s hope the breeders can cope with the demand, whether for autographs or sheep? Time will tell.