Another day another gather

or the same one again just redoing it from last week. Ordinarily lambs not got in on this gather are left out until the tupping gather in November and weaned then. We tup the ewes on the in bye fields at this farm so have to make sure all the ewes are in so they are covered so this is usually the best gather of the year. However due to the changes in the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) we now have a new scheme for our poorer grazing area which means we have to have all ewe lambs tagged and registered by the 16th October so they can give us a headage based payment. We are getting less money for our poorer grazing per acre (compared to the old CAP) so we have to jump through these hoops to get the money we need to continue farming. Since my friend was here with her collie we decided to spend the day in the sun regathering at the farm where we manage the livestock to get the missing lambs in. It went quite well and we definately have some more lambs in. They will be handled and counted tomorrow, people and dogs too tired to coral them this afternoon. Usually this gather is done over two days and we just completed it in one. The sheep can be at their worst when trying to put them in the fank so having tired dogs and people usually ends in disaster. Instead we had a cold beer on the decking at the farmhouse. Well I didn't as I was designated driver! Shaw was limping on the afternoon walk yesterday so only Breagh and Pip squeak today.

14c 5mph S sunshine although it looked like rain showers were hitting elsewhere!