Mother of invention, it is said. Shearing time for the girls, time to get rid of the winter overcoats and make life a whole lot easier and weight free. Simon is round again and he squeezes us in between his flock of 500 or so. He used to do that quantity in a day, think about it, eight hours equals one every five minutes. That’s going some, so now he’s an elderly 45 or so he’s content to do 50 at a time and take a break.

It is hard work, and of course the back takes all the strain at an uncomfortable angle as well.

Last year we surrounded the brassicas with wool to deter slugs (thank you Google) so same again this year. A waste, you ask? Well, we would only get 0.50p or so per fleece so using them makes sense