Viking sheep!

Shearing sheep (or clipping as it is known hereabouts) may sound like an unusual way to choose to spend part of a weekend but that is exactly what a group of ten Venture Scouts did recently. They also made a significant contribution to repairing a dry-stone wall.  

What do you think of 'our' bit of wall?

To round off their efforts, we took a walk up to a reservoir that serves a farm and cleaned out the filters.  The dam up there dates from Elizabethan times and is a scheduled ancient monument that the Trust maintains.

Standing on an Elizabethan dam.

All this took place at the Trust’s High Snab Farm in Newlands Valley where the Scouts were accommodated in the camping barn.  High Snab is a name that derives from the 10^th & 11^th century Viking settlement of the valley and it is likely that the Herdwick sheep that are typical on the Cumbrian fells are also Viking in origin – the first documentary record of the name was in the 12^th century.  Herdwicks are unusual in that they graze on unfenced common land and have an inbuilt instinct to keep to one area of fell.  They are said to be hefted and that is also a word with Viking origins.  Lambs somehow learn the behaviour from the ewes and become hefted to the same area – no need for fences or walls to keep them to their home territory.

Tom shows the expert way to do it.

Once they had tried it themselves, it’s probably fair to say that the Scouts were amazed at how quickly Tom had clipped a sheep.  Even though he was taking it at a slower pace because he was talking to them about the process, he still did it in one and a half minutes.  Professional shearers who work around the world can clip 600 sheep per day!

Jenny - half way and still smiling.

Unfortunately, after all the hard work, the fleece from one sheep costs 80p to clip and is worth just 40p at present – clipping is carried out for the animal’s welfare. 

Would make a great hearth rug!

Maybe not the neatest haircut but it will do the job!

The Trust now works with its hill farmers to find ways to make it viable for them to continue to farm sheep.  The sheep have had a big part to play over the last thousand years in shaping the landscape now enjoyed by millions of visitors.  Our visiting Venture Scouts have now made their contribution to that.

... and of course I had to do my bit.