Tup fever takes over the Yorkshire Dales

Tup fever has one unmistakable symptom: tup talk.

Anyone who catches it brings tup talk to breakfast, dinner, tea and supper. There is no cure, but it should pass by the start of Advent.

Tup fever is caused by those most pampered and entitled of upland farm animals, the male breeding sheep.

At this time of year they are emerging from their lush corners of the farm to spend six weeks serving the ewes.

Either that, or they are being brought to market – such as the more than 800 Swaledale tups sold at Hawes Auction Mart this week.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority first caught tup fever more than 40 years ago.

In 1974, a photograph was taken of the champion tup at the Muker Show.

That photo was turned into our emblem, which can now be seen on all our buildings, signs, leaflets, car park stickers and rangers’ jackets.

The Swaledale tup was seen to represent the way that farming – and extensive grazing – had shaped the stunning landscape of the Dales, and was essential to its beauty and maintenance.

It was an inspired decision; the Swaledale tup remains the perfect emblem of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

If you have any doubts, visit the just-opened ‘Voices From The Land’ exhibition at the National Park-run Dales Countryside Museum, located just a stone’s throw from the auction mart in Hawes.

The exhibition features audio recordings and photographic portraits of about 40 farmers from across the national park, including some of the country’s most renowned Swaledale breeders.

Listen to Raymond Calvert as he describes how it is the sheep that makes living in the Park special: “If you ask me, ‘What keeps you in the area?’ It’s them – the Swaledale sheep.

“They’ve got this fantastic ability to not only manage in these tough areas but to thrive.”

Or listen to Thomas Iveson describe the best tup he ever saw, which went by the name of Aygill Officer.

“The hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I think about him,” he said.

“I went to see him at his home. Just the depth of his black – the deepest black, with the brightest, hardest white – it just hit you from a distance.

“It was his bone, and the silver on his eyes.

“He wasn’t great on his legs, a little narrow behind as we say, but he was quality: the tup of my lifetime.”

If you haven’t got tup fever after that, then I declare you immune.

Voices From The Land opened on October 6 and will run until the Dales Countryside Museum closes for Christmas on December 22.

The work has been collected over ten months on farms and at shows and sales by Rob and Harriet Fraser and a team of volunteers.

It will be displayed alongside items from the museum’s collection.