Sheep, not wool.

 

 The land around us is mainly given over to arable production. When we first moved here, the land behind us was part of a dairy farm. By the following summer, however, the Friesian cows had departed, and the fields were sown with wheat. The land in front of us was used for grazing sheep, but five years on, that, too, had become arable in common with the rest of that holding, which stretched around to one side of us. On the remaining side was part of a farm which ran as a dairy and bred lovely pedigree Dairy Shorthorn cows....gentle red-and-white spotted beasts, a favourite in old-fashioned story books. Happily, they are still there, although in reduced numbers, and the fields directly adjacent to us are mainly used for fodder crops.

 

So, I was delighted to awake this morning, to the sound of sheep. I knew that they were coming, but not when. The field opposite is now alive with the woolly beasts. The barley that had been in there last summer, was oversown with fodder beet. It is a quick-growing crop, and it meant that this flock of store sheep could overwintered on a good food source. I know that they will only be here for a matter of weeks, but they will make me smile while they are here.