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Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Tupped


There were lots of the typical, hardy Yorkshire Dales sheep grazing on the moors around the Grassington lead mines. I was intrigued to notice the multi-coloured marks - and then mildly amused when I realised the significance... The male rams/tups are marked on their undersides with colours which transfer to the ewe during mating in the autumn, so that the farmer can see whether they have mated and with whom. Basic but effective. The gestation period for a lamb is about 4.5 months so, before long, our meadows will be filled with frisky lambs again. That's a season that I always look forward to. 

5 comments:

  1. The farmers are smart! Simple solution to their problem.

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  2. Such a siple and elegant solution! And colorful too!

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  3. James Herriot described the Yorkshire lambing season as "a flood" of newborn lambs.

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  4. So far, it looks looks like the red over the green is ahead by one, unless one of the greens is blue. And I can't tell if the one on the far left is red, or just well, living through the winter. I guess it depends on how many rams you have how many cans of paint. Animal husbandry is interesting. Ha.

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