Kept in Line by Andy McClounie At Garclaugh
Scottish Blackface Sheep
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| From the Blackface Sheep Breeders' Association |
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| A Nairn 2008 Texel/Beltex - Burnton |
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| Little Creoch in January 2021 |
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| Cumnock Chronicle 1896 |
The History of Ochiltree Village & Parish - Dane Love
p267
'Most of the farms in the parish kept sheep or cattle. The sheep were mainly black-faced, with some smaller herds of Leicester, Bakewell, Southdown and Cheviot breeds. At Burnton farm there was a herd of black Egyptian sheep, noted for their wool.'
Hill Sheep of Ayrshire
The tough little Black Face sheep of the area are a hardy breed used to the cold wet climate of Ayrshire. Hill sheep like these make use of the scant grass growth in the summer months, and are usually brought down to the lower slopes in the worst of the weather.
Gathering the sheep off the hills can take place up to six times a year when the shepherd and his dogs are tasked with returning the ewes to the farm for lambing, shearing, dipping, grading for market, and feeding up prior to lambing again. The Gather is the time to combine the use of the quad bike, good dogs, and an agile shepherd complete with crook to get to those hard to reach areas. Because the sheep are hefted, the shepherd will know where to find them.
When the ewes and lambs are returned to the hill in early summer, the ewe will go to her patch of hill. She is hefted to that spot. In turn , her lamb will remember that same spot, and if she is selected for breeding will then take her own lamb there. If she isn’t selected to remain in the flock, she will be off to market.
The boys - tups - will have a slightly different life. Good strong tup lambs that portray the best features of the breed will be kept for breeding. The rest will have little elastic bands put on their testicles so that they lose them - just like their tails - and they will join the surplus lambs to market.
The breeding tups will have a quiet life separated from the ewes, munching on lowland grasses and conserving energy. These lads will be selected for trading with other farmers as breeding stock, and in turn, the shepherd will control which tup he uses, either his own or new blood bought in, to keep his own flock healthy and prevent inbreeding.
The chosen tups will be released to the ewes wearing a raddle - a dye collar, that marks the ewe when she is mated. The colour of the dye is changed so that the shepherd can tell when a ewe will lamb, and which tup is the father of the lamb produced. Thereby planning his workload for the spring lambing season, probably the most exciting job of the shepherd’s year. There will be the usual cycle of birth, death, rejection, sleepless nights for the shepherd, then the pleasure of seeing the new lambs and ewes out skipping in the sunshine, and the whole thing begins again.
