January   The middle of winter. The cattle are all housed and the daily routine is to feed them twice a day with a silage based diet and to keep them clean.
As the month progresses we bring the lambing ewes into the shed, off the fields. This allows the fields to freshen up for the arrival of the lambs later. There are cows calving most of the year here, although many people like to calve them all at once in April and let the farm look after them. Our system suits us and allows us to spread the marketing of calves throughout the year.

February   The routine is much the same as January. Over the winter period if there are any good frosty periods to tighten the ground up we get some muck or slurry spread onto the grassland. Opportunities are often few and far between so each chance is siezed considering how much rain we get in this area.

March In this area generally most farming systems are very similar. We keep Swaledale ewes on the fell and then when they reach a given age, either 2 or 3 shear, they are taken onto the in-bye fields.  Their first three lambings they are generally to the pure Swaledale tup and subsequently the Blue Faced Leicester to breed mule lambs. The middle of the month comes and lambing begins.  The older ewes lamb first to the Leicester.  As long as the ewes udder is correct (milking on both teats) and the lambs are full and it is not too wet or too cold off they go to grass. Being that it is still March ewes continue to be fed until grass is plentiful and rich enough in quality to maintain them and their lambs.

April  Lambing gets busier tending to the new arrivals. It is always like the start of the year to me, as the lambs are the crop and, as shepherds, we have to do our best so they reach harvest time. Lambing is easy albeit intensive, as long as the weather is kind and there aren’t too many problems.  Fortunately for us with the benefit of a sheep shed we don’t suffer losses due to starvation at birth.  Some cows calve.  If the ground is dry some can go out with their calves, as long as their feet don’t sink in.  Slurry and muck are spread as fertiliser which the plants can now use to their maximum potential

May  The best time of the year, when the ground really starts to wake up in the Caldbeck area. The grass starts to bounce, so we can then open the shed doors and let the cattle go to grass.  The fertiliser is sown and the fields are rolled in preparation for silage time (rolled to get rid of any ruts caused by cow’s feet in the autumn and any stones which may otherwise damage the silaging equipment).

June   Sheds are all cleared of muck and washed out, so the concrete is white again - it’s quite satisfying.  By the end of the month the grass is ready for cutting for silage.  A team of contractors come.  They mow, row up (put 4 rows of grass into 1) and then the forage harvester comes along, picks up the grass and chops it into 3 inch long bits.  (This is so that, in the winter, cows can pull chunks of compact silage out easily.)  The grass is led in using 8 -10 tonne trailers.  Back at the farm another man is in the silage pit buckraking. (packing and compacting the grass into the pit as tightly as possible to get all of the air out and then when sheeted up the grass ferments well and turns to silage).  Following the silage operation the bare fields are then covered with all muck and slurry which is in store, to get the grass growing again.  General repairs and maintenance are carried out around the fields and sheds.

July   Hopefully the weather should be warm as this is when the sheep are gathered up for clipping.  If ewes are clipped when it is too cool it can knock them off their milk.  Then there is the fly problem.  Sheep have to be kept clean around their behinds and correct in their feet or flies can lay eggs on them and cause severe problems.  That is when dipping comes to the rescue.  A swim around the tub and many parasitic problems are solved all at once.  Rather than a summer dip many people now use a 'pour on' (pour a product along the sheep’s back) to protect the animals over the at risk period.

If we have surplus grass it gets mowed to make into hay at this time of year.  If the weather is kind it quickly makes, if not so kind the crop is round baled and wrapped in plastic.  (The product ferments into haylage, is sweet for the stock to eat in winter and far better than bad hay).

August   The mule lambs are weaned, split into male and female groups, dosed against internal worms and taken to clean fog grass.  (Lush grass which grows following a field being cut).  This is the start of sale preparation for these lambs.  The male lambs will be sold as and when they reach a target weight and handle well. (Full of flesh and not too fat).   It’s a busy month for the gimmer lambs; they are in and out of the yard.  Their bellies are clipped, to make them look cleaner and taller.  Their faces are trimmed to show off their fine colours and roman noses, and finally they are dipped to give a healthy glow to their fleeces.  All farmers like a different dip colour.  Traditionally different breeds use different colours from red on the Herdwick, black on the Swaledale or shades of yellow on the Suffolks and Texels.  Our mule lambs suit a shade of light brown.  During this month the lambs grow very quickly and are then looking their best for the sales.

September   Sheep sale season, for all breeds, all ages.  The mule gimmers have their faces washed and then off to market.  The climax of the years work, the harvest of the hills and we’re always hopeful of a good trade.  Groups of our store cattle are sold at market along the way.  Again they are clipped and washed to make them look their best for the sale ring.

October   Draft ewes (the older ones which are getting short of teeth) are sorted and sold off the farm, as the flock moves up a stage on the age ladder.  Towards the end of the month the breeding tup sales at Hawes and Kirby Stephen are in full swing.  This is when we purchase new blood for next season’s crop of lambs. The Blue Faced Leicester tups are let off with groups of ewes.  They are fed a ration daily from a bucket to keep their fertility and energy levels high.  If the autumn is kind the cows stay out, but as soon as the cooler, wet weather comes the cattle come into the sheds to reduce land damage by their big feet and so they have somewhere dry to lie.

November  The winter routine for the cattle is in full swing.  Silage feeds and clean bedding for them.  The Fell sheep are gathered up.  A communal effort in this locality, everyone goes at once so as the fells are swept of sheep.  All sheep on the farm then get a winter dip, to kill parasites and for good health.  The breeding ewes have their tails trimmed ready for the tupping season.  The tups are released and that is the beginning of next year’s crops.

December   Winter stock routine.  The days are short.  The tups are swapped between groups to ensure that if one tup is not working effectively the next one would make sure the ewes get in lamb.  The tups are raddled with different colours on their chests. This marks the ewe when tupped and helps us know who the ewe is in lamb to and for the future which animals are breeding well.