Following on from my Red Galloway cow the other day which can be found here http://365project.org/shirleybankfarm/365/2016-05-23
We came across this Herdwick Ewe with her lamb on our ride out on Sunday. This also is a first for me to see a lamb of this colour, especially a Herdwick which is usually black.
Herdwicks are a very hardy breed of sheep which predominantly live on the high hills of the Lake District. Herdwick sheep flocks were historically managed in such a way that the sheep know which bit of the fell they are supposed to graze, and unlike most other sheep breeds they keep to this ‘heaf’. Each generation of sheep pass this knowledge of belonging on to their offspring. If a farm is sold which has heafed sheep on the sheep are usually sold with that farm so they stay on the right part of the hill. Any breed of hill sheep which graze open fell are usually heafed.
