It's the first of November and time for my new Ram (Tup) to go out with the Ewes.
This ram is a Ryeland, a very stocky and hardy breed which should do well in the rough grazing we have on the wetland. 

The harness he is wearing is a raddle, holding a crayon on his chest which marks the ewes when he covers them.  This way I know when each ewe is due to lamb.

He seemed to know exactly where he was going and was soon being greeted by his 30 new girls!  Just 5 minutes after being introduced he was busy doing his job.

I am now expecting the first lambs on the 26th March 2013.

Many thanks to Brian Rutterford for taking me up in his helecopter to take pictures of the effects of Water Buffalo grazing in the reedbeds.  These pictures are very usefull for recordeing the density of reed following grazing, aswell as showing the amount of open water generated by this style of management.

I hope to be able to get up at the same time each year to show how the re-growth of reed changes with a 4 year rotation of grazing.