This month is now a busy month as we carefully sort out our 2 pedigree flocks of sheep. We are keeping less Jacobs at the moment and this is only because of selective breeding. If we don’t produce lambs that meet the exacting standards of the Jacob sheep Society, then they go for meat. The quality of the wool, the markings, excellent legs, good horns are just a few of the things we need to concentrate on when selecting lambs to stay in the flock. Those that make the grade are then registered with the Society who produce excellent, informative pedigree papers.
With our Black Welsh Mountain flock, again, the Breed Society have tough standards to meet. 
Interestingly with the blacks you only have to register the males, not the females. The only standard that I do not agree with is that the blacks should have a long tail. Docking tails serves many purposes, one of the most important being that their rear end can stay cleaner and help to prevent such problems as flystrike.
This is also the time of year when we thoroughly inspect all of the breeding ewes and cull out those that are either too old, or who had lambing problems last year and therefore we consider are not suitable to breed from again. It is no good being soft hearted with this task. The head must rule the heart, for the sake of the sheep.
This task is also well timed as this month is the Honiton and District annual flock competition. We always enter both flocks, so with the best sheep being kept for breeding, the judge will hopefully see something that catches his eye. It’s been a few years since we have won, but it’s a good competition to enter. It will be just my luck that a ewe decides to go lame on the day! Let’s hope not.
We are also getting enquiries to sell ram lambs for breeding which is good – I have still to find a good ram for my Blacks, don’t worry girls, I will find you a handsome stock ram.
Unfortunately sometime back we lost our lovely ducks to Mr. Fox. The good news is we have now got some more and have built a duck house in the middle of the pond – let’s hope Mr. Fox can’t swim. They do look so lovely and also help to manage the pond environment.
On the side of diversification, the old stables, which we have converted into a function room is proving very popular and we are already getting bookings for Christmas lunches. .
Janet East
