I really must try and get into the habit of carrying my camera with me more of the time. There was a really picturesque sunrise this morning when i was checking some of the stock. The ponies and a small group of sheep were grazing across the moor and the sun came up behind them creating a beautiful silhouette against the frosty landscape and clear sky. As they say a picture paints a thousand words.................must remember that camera.

Lots of movements going on at the moment with the Exmoor ponies. They are all off too new grazing areas for the rest of the winter. They have come through all the snowy weather really well. It helps with them being strong and able to dig down through the snow to reach the grass underneath. The additional benefit is that they break up the snow cover for the smaller animals and birds allowing them access to the ground underneath the snow for some much need feed.

With the snow and frost disappearing this week I have been rounding up the different groups of sheep and checking them over. They all seem to have come through the bad weather pretty well, although I hope we don't return to the quantities of snow we have had over the past couple of months.
In a 'normal' winter I would expect to find some of them maintain and even gain condition allowing us to have a few shearlings to sell through the early spring but this year like last is proving to be a little more challenging. I am hopeful weather permitting that there will be a one or two available through February. The rest are absolutely fine but will require a week or two of spring grass to fatten them up.

The cattle and ponies meantime are happily munching away on their grazing sites. Being larger animals they are much more capable of digging through the snow to the feed buried beneath.

During the recent cold weather some of the Manx Loaghtan decided they would try and impersonate reindeer and adorn their horns with some ice sculpting! It just shows that forward facing horns do have their uses.