Ram back on his hooves

A couple of weeks ago our Swaledale ram had a massive fight with another ram (presumably after some nubile young gimmer) and we had to take him home on his side in the back of the van as he looked to be finished.

After over a week confined to barracks in our intensive care unit (a shed on our croft apportionment) we let him out into the field. Then someone left the back gate open and he did a runner (or maybe just a fast hobble) into the wind-swept yonder. Today he came back for his breakfast with the others and seems none the worse for wear, though I hope he stays around here now and doesn't wander very far.

Sometimes the sheep come to grief on the roads, as here on the island we are one of the few places left which practice "open township" grazing. This means that none of the crofts are fenced and sheep are permitted to graze where they like when they are not on the common grazing (which is fenced). Some people are not keen on the sheep being around during winter and say they make a mess on the roads, which of course, they do. But I'm sure its not generally recognised, even by those who have lived in this sort of environments for a long time that the landscape all over much of Scotland has been sculpted by generations of sheep.


Anyway - here's the ram having breakfast:

Windy again today and a fair bit of hail falling, but I'm hoping to finish spinning the black Wensleydale today and then put something on the blog about the washing of it.