Sweep the sheepdog saves the day and there is a nice surprise in the post at the farm on the M62

This was the case last week when the dreaded number flashed up on the screen of Paul’s phone.

He’d just penned his lambs at the market and was catching up with friends when the all too familiar “You’ve got a sheep out on the motorway, can you come and remove it” call came through. With a 40-minute drive ahead of him, he set off straight away, leaving his lambs to sell themselves.

By the time he got there, the stretch of motorway where the sheep had been spotted was empty, he was escorted by the Highways vehicle and with Sweep’s no-nonsense approach, the ewe was caught.

Her lamb, however, had other ideas and instead of following its mother, made a mad dash towards the wall of cars and wagons, sat patiently waiting in their lanes. Again, Sweep was having none of that and sensing he had an audience, swiftly cut the lamb off and sent it back towards Paul, where his well-trained arm and crook stopped it in its tracks.

He made it back to market just in time to sell his lambs for a very good price.

With plenty of lost days due to the monsoon-like conditions we’ve had, jobs that usually get put on hold tend to get done. With the price of wool being so low, there’s been no rush to head to Bradford with a trailer load, but with little else to be done, Paul and John-William decided to take some in.

There has been plenty of coverage during the last six months about the collapse of the international wool trade, with images of farmers burning this year’s clip. It astounds and saddens me that such a versatile product has so little value. It’s uses and qualities are infinite.

From carpets and upholstery to insulation, packaging, bedding and clothing, wool has no equal.

Being naturally biodegradable, it will never add to the environmental disaster like the disposal of plastic has, it actually releases nutrients back into the environment. You can even be buried in a wool coffin!

With all this in mind, it was a real kick in the teeth to be told there would be no payment for our wool. Again, I echo the words of farmers up and down the country, buy local. Support your local art and craft markets and small cottage industries. Wool is one of nature’s wonders and it’s high time people remember this, especially in the midst of such a throw-away culture.

Our post box houses bills and nothing more! The days of putting pen to paper and sending a letter seem to be all but gone. But on the rare occasion we receive something nice, especially when it’s addressed to the farm in the middle of the M62, it brightens up our entire week.

So, thank you very much to the lady who kindly wrote, with a gift. Your gesture was very much appreciated!

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James Mitchinson