I used to take my Labrador dog for walks twice a day, and usually took one particular footpath through a field at least once a day.

A flock of sheep appeared on the field, and as the Winter progressed I had to rescue cast sheep several times a week.

When the good weather arrived I was walking along as usual and was accosted by the gentleman farmer - who was neither - and told to keep my dog away from the sheep or he would shoot him.

I told him I wasn't about to take orders from a man who had no idea which way up his sheep should be, and that I had set several dozen of them back on their feet over the weeks and he should be ashamed of himself for leaving them untended.

They were Leicester sheep, with long coats which were filthy dirty, and when they were laid over in the mud they were well and truly stuck. If they had not been so skinny I would never have been able to move them.

My dog had wandered off, and he barked - he'd found a cast sheep, so I showed the man the problem and told him he'd better get on with rescuing his beast.

The sheep were gone by the end of the week, hopefully to a more caring owner.

I have never kept sheep - but I think there might be something in the genes.

When you have two rams on the same land you tie them together so that they can't butt eachother with any great force. The chain used for the job is called a ram shackle, and as it is any old bit of chain the term has come to mean something rather less than first class.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: