Cast Members

Simon & Mairead

Two vets (and newlyweds) in residence at the foot of the Great Sugarloaf. Currently with two hundred and thirty commercial ewes at the back door and seventy black face mountain ewes down the road needing checking, feeding and counting daily. This photo was taken in August 2016, when we were warm and the last time Simon was seen hatless and in a t-shirt. Further human cast members to be added with their consent as time goes on! Our Animal characters are more amenable to being photographed and described.

Toby the Dog Father

Toby is a pet that lives in the main farm house (HQ). His main functions are to chase the neighbours dogs from the fence, run around the house barking at 7am and taking trips in the red jeep while barking loudly. He also keeps a close eye on  the armchair by the fire by sleeping on it each night and assists with housekeeping duties by maintaing a fine white fluff on the carpet as much as possible. He is the father to the only working sheepdog on the farm - TJ. (Toby Junior). Toby is now in his geriatric years, but he doesn't let that slow him down.

T.J 

T.J. is the business. He works quite hard moving and rounding up sheep almost daily. A good guard dog too he is friendly only to known faces and dislikes strangers. He has inherited Toby's vocalisations while travelling and has a habit of chasing moving vehicles, a habit shared with his dog father. Toby and T.J have a love hate relationship with occasional scuffles that are not serious. TJ lives between HQ and at Alan's house in a new kennel made this summer. An outdoor dog he does not enjoy an armchair by the fire.

Norbert

Norbert is an ornamental goat that was
rescued from a death sentence at 2 days old.
His crime; to be a male milking goat. He regularly causes havoc by going wherever he pleases on the farm and sometimes off it. If he ever gets a small amount of foot rot it is the end of the world. Never mind Man Flu, Goat Footrot is a killer. I call him ornamental as he has no purpose whatsoever. He usually hangs out with the rams, or tups as we call them sometimes, due to our time spent in North Yorkshire.

Clara & Chip

Clara and Chip are more "ornamentals". They are always together and so it takes an experienced eye to tell them apart. Clara  (at the back in this photo) usually has a ball in her mouth or is nearby one. Chip normally has a dazed expression and is just after or just about to do something daft.  They both come on daily inspections of sheep up on the hill (the part of the farm at the Sugarloaf) and are quite talented at waiting quietly so as not to startle the sheep by running through them. They do not operate very well down in the yard; chasing machinery, disappearing and eating undesirable items voraciously. Both have done  Kennel Club training and Clara passed, however Chip failed his test. He mostly copies Clara so it does not tend to be an issue. Clara is a good guard dog and both are rescue collies. Clara as a pup and Chip as a five year old. Neither dog works the sheep, although Chip wathces them sometimes.