WHEN I was once in Baltimore,A man came up to me and cried,“Come, I have eighteen hundred sheep,And we will sail on Tuesday’s tide.“If you will sail with me, young man,I’ll pay you fifty shillings down;These eighteen hundred sheep I takeFrom Baltimore to Glasgow town.”He paid me fifty shillings down,I sailed with eighteen hundred sheep;We soon had cleared the harbour’s mouth,We soon were in the salt sea deep.The first night we were out at seaThose sheep were quiet in their mind;The second night they cried with fear;They smelt no pastures in the wind,They sniffed, poor things, for their green fields,They cried so loud I could not sleep:For fifty thousand shillings downI would not sail again with sheep.

SheepWilliam Henry Davies

Mary had a little lamb,She ate it with mint sauce,And everywhere that Mary wentThe lamb went too of course.

A Little Lamb

“Also

, the

y ha

ve

spec

ial i

nbre

d im

mun

ities

whi

ch

does

aw

ay w

ith th

e ne

ed fo

r in

ject

ions

and

tr

eatm

ent.”

He

said

: “If

foot

and

m

outh

got

into

thes

e sh

eep

it w

ould

go

thro

ugh

the

who

le lo

t. Yo

u ca

n’t s

egre

gate

th

em“S

heep

on

the

edge

s of

terr

itori

es w

ill c

ome

into

con

tact

. It w

ould

be

ver

y, ve

ry d

ifficu

lt to

org

anis

e a

cull.

It’s

ba

sica

lly o

ne b

ig fi

eld.

T

he fa

rms

can

be a

co

uple

of

thou

sand

ac

res

each

.“T

hese

she

ep a

re n

ot

alw

ays

easy

to g

athe

r. In

fact

I’m

not

sur

e it

wou

ld b

e po

ssib

le

to g

athe

r th

em a

nd

slaug

hter

them

.“A

lot o

f pe

ople

, pa

rtic

ular

ly v

isito

rs,

thin

k th

e L

ake

Dis

tric

t is

natu

ral.

It

isn’

t. It

is a

man

aged

en

viro

nmen

t and

the

man

agem

ent i

s do

ne

by th

ese

shee

p.”

Will

Coc

kbai

n, h

ill

shee

p fa

rmer

with

11

00 b

reed

ing

ewes

at

Kes

wic

k, s

aid:

“I

t wou

ld b

e al

mos

t im

poss

ible

to g

athe

r ev

ery

shee

p fr

om a

n op

en fe

ll si

tuat

ion.

“Lar

ge p

arts

of

the

Lak

e D

istr

ict a

re a

W

orld

Her

itage

Site

w

ith m

any

Site

s of

Sp

ecia

l Sci

entifi

c In

tere

st.

“The

y re

quir

e m

anag

ed g

razi

ng. I

f th

e sh

eep

wer

e lo

st it

w

ould

be

irre

plac

eabl

y - y

ou c

an’t

purc

hase

sh

eep

to p

ut b

ack

on

the

fells

. It w

ould

take

an

aw

ful l

ong

time

to

‘teac

h’ n

ew s

heep

to

be h

eafe

d yo

u ha

ve to

go

hom

e so

met

ime,

an

d th

ey w

ould

then

ju

st w

ande

r of

f.“T

he w

hole

sys

tem

an

d cu

lture

that

it

prod

uces

, with

the

add

on e

ffect

of

a £

600m

illio

n to

uris

t in

dust

ry w

ould

be

in d

ange

r - t

he

agri

cultu

re w

ould

be

lost

and

the

tour

ist

indu

stry

dam

aged

.

“Also

, the

y ha

ve

spec

ial i

nbre

d im

mun

ities

whi

ch

does

aw

ay w

ith th

e ne

ed fo

r in

ject

ions

and

tr

eatm

ent.”

He

said

: “If

foot

and

m

outh

got

into

thes

e sh

eep

it w

ould

go

thro

ugh

the

who

le lo

t. Yo

u ca

n’t s

egre

gate

th

em“S

heep

on

the

edge

s of

terr

itori

es w

ill c

ome

into

con

tact

. It w

ould

be

ver

y, ve

ry d

ifficu

lt to

org

anis

e a

cull.

It’s

ba

sica

lly o

ne b

ig fi

eld.

T

he fa

rms

can

be a

co

uple

of

thou

sand

ac

res

each

.“T

hese

she

ep a

re n

ot

alw

ays

easy

to g

athe

r. In

fact

I’m

not

sur

e it

wou

ld b

e po

ssib

le

to g

athe

r th

em a

nd

slaug

hter

them

.“A

lot o

f pe

ople

, pa

rtic

ular

ly v

isito

rs,

thin

k th

e L

ake

Dis

tric

t is

natu

ral.

It

isn’

t. It

is a

man

aged

en

viro

nmen

t and

the

man

agem

ent i

s do

ne

by th

ese

shee

p.”

Will

Coc

kbai

n, h

ill

shee

p fa

rmer

with

11

00 b

reed

ing

ewes

at

Kes

wic

k, s

aid:

“I

t wou

ld b

e al

mos

t im

poss

ible

to g

athe

r ev

ery

shee

p fr

om a

n op

en fe

ll si

tuat

ion.

“Lar

ge p

arts

of

the

Lak

e D

istr

ict a

re a

W

orld

Her

itage

Site

w

ith m

any

Site

s of

Sp

ecia

l Sci

entifi

c In

tere

st.

“The

y re

quir

e m

anag

ed g

razi

ng. I

f th

e sh

eep

wer

e lo

st it

w

ould

be

irre

plac

eabl

y - y

ou c

an’t

purc

hase

sh

eep

to p

ut b

ack

on

the

fells

. It w

ould

take

an

aw

ful l

ong

time

to

‘teac

h’ n

ew s

heep

to

be h

eafe

d yo

u ha

ve to

go

hom

e so

met

ime,

an

d th

ey w

ould

then

ju

st w

ande

r of

f.“T

he w

hole

sys

tem

an

d cu

lture

that

it

prod

uces

, with

the

add

on e

ffect

of

a £

600m

illio

n to

uris

t in

dust

ry w

ould

be

in d

ange

r - t

he

agri

cultu

re w

ould

be

lost

and

the

tour

ist

indu

stry

dam

aged

.

Immunities

Mutton

IF th

e fa

t but

cher

thin

ks h

e sla

ys,

Or

he -t

he m

utto

n - t

hink

s he

’s sla

in,

Why

, “tr

oth

is tr

uth,

” th

e ea

ter

says

;“I

’ll c

ome,

and

cut

and

com

e ag

ain.

” T

o hu

ngry

wol

ves

that

on

him

leer

Mut

ton

is c

heap

, and

she

ep th

e sa

me,

No

fam

ishe

d go

d w

ould

at h

im s

neer

;T

o fa

min

e, c

hops

are

mor

e th

an fa

me.

Who

his

s at

him

, him

but

ass

ures

Tha

t the

y ar

e ge

ese,

but

wan

ting

win

gs

Your

coa

t is

his

who

se li

fe is

you

rs;

And

baa

! the

hym

n th

e m

utto

n si

ngs.

Ye

curs

, and

god

s of

gra

nder

blo

od,

And

you

, ye

Padd

ies

fres

h fr

om C

ork,

Com

e ta

ste,

ye

love

rs o

f th

e go

od;

Eat

! Stu

ff! a

nd tu

rn y

our

back

on

pork

.

Mutton By Anonymous

CU

MB

RIA’S fell top sheep

cannot be valued simply in hard

cash.Farm

ers believe they would be

almost im

possible to replace because of special qualities honed over hundreds of years.A

nd also because they keep the L

ake District a poets’ - and

holidaymaker’s - idea of a rural

idyll.Farm

ers say they are so important

because:T

hey have been bred for hundreds of years to be “territorial”. It’s w

hat farmers

call “heafed” to the fell. This

means they can be safely left

on unfenced terrain and will

not wander off their traditional

patch. Ew

es teach this behaviour to their lam

bs.T

hey have special resistance to diseases, and parasites like ticks - a characteristic taken advantage of by other sectors of the sheep farm

ing industry to breed into their ow

n sheep.T

hey are bred to be tough enough to w

ithstand appalling w

eather, allowing the felltops to

be farmed at all.

They are in balance w

ith the environm

ent, grazing heather and grass evenly, and keeping bracken and scrub under control. T

his keeps the w

orld-famous “L

ake D

istrict look” to the scenery.T

hey comprise breeds like the

native Herdw

ick, the Swaledale

and some cross breeds.

Keith T

wentym

an, Cum

bria N

FU group secretary, said: “I

don’t think anyone knows for

sure how m

any are up there, but it w

ould be hundreds of thousands, belonging to hundreds of farm

s throughout the whole

county.“These are heafed flocks

that are seen once a year w

hen they are brought down

to lamb.

“There has been generations of

breeding over hundreds of years to m

ake them ‘territorial.’ T

he m

others train their lambs to stay

on their patch. For that reason they are irreplaceable.“T

he heafting behaviour probably com

es from a tim

e when

the shepherds went up into the

fells and stayed with the sheep.

“You couldn’t just replace them

with ‘norm

al’ sheep because they w

ould simply w

ander for miles.”

He said the loss of these sheep

would also have an environm

ental im

pact because ‘fresh’ non-heafed sheep w

ould wander at w

ill, grazing all the new

grass first and then all the heather.“It is in-bred into these sheep to stay on their ow

n patch and that m

eans the area is evenly grazed. Sheep usually give birth once a year and have 1-3 lam

bs. They

normally live to be about 8 years

old, but can sometim

es live to be as old as 20. Pregnancy lasts for 147 days.L

ambs form

strong bonds with

their mothers. T

hey can identify their m

other by her bleat.L

ambs have 8 tem

porary incisors that erupt at approxim

ately 2 m

onths of age. They w

ill be replaced by larger and w

ider perm

anent incisors between 12

months and 4 years of age. A

t this point they w

ill have all their teeth. Sheep don’t have top front teeth.Sheep are rum

inants. They have

a four-chambered stom

ach, using the first cham

ber to store quickly ingested food (cud) w

hich they then bring back into their m

ouths to chew again before fully

digesting it. Sheep spend about a third of their life rum

inating and need peace and quiet.Sheep are very selective in their grazing habits. Sheep have a split in their upper lip, w

ith this they are able to pick the preferred leaves off the plant. Sheep don’t like to w

alk in water or m

ove through narrow

openings. They

prefer to move into the w

ind and uphill than dow

n wind and

downhill.

Sheep see in colour!

CU

MB

RIA’S fell top sheep

cannot be valued simply in hard

cash.Farm

ers believe they would be

almost im

possible to replace because of special qualities honed over hundreds of years.A

nd also because they keep the L

ake District a poets’ - and

holidaymaker’s - idea of a rural

idyll.Farm

ers say they are so important

because:T

hey have been bred for hundreds of years to be “territorial”. It’s w

hat farmers

call “heafed” to the fell. This

means they can be safely left

on unfenced terrain and will

not wander off their traditional

patch. Ew

es teach this behaviour to their lam

bs.T

hey have special resistance to diseases, and parasites like ticks - a characteristic taken advantage of by other sectors of the sheep farm

ing industry to breed into their ow

n sheep.T

hey are bred to be tough enough to w

ithstand appalling w

eather, allowing the felltops to

be farmed at all.

They are in balance w

ith the environm

ent, grazing heather and grass evenly, and keeping bracken and scrub under control. T

his keeps the w

orld-famous “L

ake D

istrict look” to the scenery.T

hey comprise breeds like the

native Herdw

ick, the Swaledale

and some cross breeds.

Keith T

wentym

an, Cum

bria N

FU group secretary, said: “I

don’t think anyone knows for

sure how m

any are up there, but it w

ould be hundreds of thousands, belonging to hundreds of farm

s throughout the whole

county.“These are heafed flocks

that are seen once a year w

hen they are brought down

to lamb.

“There has been generations of

breeding over hundreds of years to m

ake them ‘territorial.’ T

he m

others train their lambs to stay

on their patch. For that reason they are irreplaceable.“T

he heafting behaviour probably com

es from a tim

e when

the shepherds went up into the

fells and stayed with the sheep.

“You couldn’t just replace them

with ‘norm

al’ sheep because they w

ould simply w

ander for miles.”

He said the loss of these sheep

would also have an environm

ental im

pact because ‘fresh’ non-heafed sheep w

ould wander at w

ill, grazing all the new

grass first and then all the heather.“It is in-bred into these sheep to stay on their ow

n patch and that m

eans the area is evenly grazed. Sheep usually give birth once a year and have 1-3 lam

bs. They

normally live to be about 8 years

old, but can sometim

es live to be as old as 20. Pregnancy lasts for 147 days.L

ambs form

strong bonds with

their mothers. T

hey can identify their m

other by her bleat.L

ambs have 8 tem

porary incisors that erupt at approxim

ately 2 m

onths of age. They w

ill be replaced by larger and w

ider perm

anent incisors between 12

months and 4 years of age. A

t this point they w

ill have all their teeth. Sheep don’t have top front teeth.Sheep are rum

inants. They have

a four-chambered stom

ach, using the first cham

ber to store quickly ingested food (cud) w

hich they then bring back into their m

ouths to chew again before fully

digesting it. Sheep spend about a third of their life rum

inating and need peace and quiet.Sheep are very selective in their grazing habits. Sheep have a split in their upper lip, w

ith this they are able to pick the preferred leaves off the plant. Sheep don’t like to w

alk in water or m

ove through narrow

openings. They

prefer to move into the w

ind and uphill than dow

n wind and

downhill.

In 1996, a sheep named Dolly was the first

mammal to be cloned.

In 1996, a sheep named Dolly was the first

mammal to be cloned.