Short legs and deep snow equals can I have a lift please!

A winters scene at Holywell pond


When the snow is not too deep the sheep still prefer to dig down to the grass rather than eat hay.

Snow, snow everywhere..........must be winter time again. Those bright, sunny autumn days seem a long time ago now. It's at times like these that using hardy native breeds for the grazing really starts to pay off.

Some of the Holywell volunteers checking over the new arrivals. The Swaledale and Cheviot cross sheep will be grazing the hay meadow for the next few weeks.


Jess in action

This week has seen grazing commence on a new area at Holywell pond. The flower meadow there is being grazed by sheep to remove the regrowth that has occurred since the meadow was cut for hay in the summer. The sheep will taken off once the meadow has been grazed down and before the the flowering plants and other broadleaved plant species start to grow in the spring. There is a keen group of volunteers who help to maintain the site and who will regularly check the sheep while they are there.