Sheep On’t Road

There are many reasons why you may come across large flocks of sheep being moved along the road by farmers and their dogs.

All these sheep have one or two lambs with them. They are all pedigree Swaledales and the lambs will need tagging and their breeding line recorded. At the same time both the lambs and ewes will get a health checked to make sure they are all strong and fit.

These sheep have been gathered off the open fell.

Gathering in for clipping. The adult sheep are clipped once a year. Lambs are not clipped until they are over a year old. We then call them a shearling (they have been sheared or clipped once).

These are my Herdwick sheep and they should not be out on the road!

It is certainly not the type of traffic congestion caused by roadworks or accidents. It can however cause a hold up and we ask you to be patient and enjoy the scene. In three of these photos you can see a sheepdog at work. On the other two the dog / dogs are not visible but they are there. They dart back and forth, completely focused on the job in hand. They DO NOT see you. When you are able to get passed please drive very carefully and be sure the farmer has his dog close by and that it isn’t near your car.