4 ms·

Herdwicks: The 'smiley' sheep that shaped the Lake District

39 points by bananapear 5y ago

publicola1990 5y ago
At last a somewhat sane headline from BBC. By their usual practice in recent times it would be patterned something like: 'The unknown mystery animal that shaped the Lake District'.
- rwnspace 5y ago
  And yet here I was, going to the comments first (as is tradition), wondering whether Herdwicks is an individual sheep with the power to terraform, or a breed of some mild historical significance.
  - bloat 5y ago
    Well, I guess 'terraforming' is an overstatement, but hill farming in general and the sheep specifically have had a profound effect on the landscape. This link is to a polemic, but it also contains plenty of references. https://www.monbiot.com/2013/05/30/sheepwrecked/ https://www.monbiot.com/2013/05/30/sheepwrecked/
    - youngtaff 5y ago
      Considering how much damage sheep do to the landscape and how unprofitable sheep farming, I think we'd be off paying sheep farmers to re-wild the hills
      - cmrdporcupine 5y ago
        Yep I've been thinking about adding some little babydoll southdown sheep here to my hobby farm -- mostly because they're cute but also so I don't have to mow as much and to help weed the vineyard and make some manure for the garden and to give my border collie something to do -- and what I've noticed is that almost everyone keeping sheep around here is doing it for the same kinds of reasons. They're cute. Keeping sheep gives that pastoral feel. (As my teen daughter would say ... It's cottage-core). It's something their family did. Etc. Almost nobody is doing it because it's profitable. At least around here (southern Ontario) it wouldn't be an environmentally problematic thing, but there are definitely places in the world where the land _and_ economics would be much better off without ruminants and returned to a natural state.
    - bitwize 5y ago
      I've heard of goats used for "terraforming". Several U.S. states have used them to remove invasive plant species (by eating them, because goat).
frereubu 5y ago
This is the Twitter account for a shepherd on Twitter whose flock is made up of Herdwicks: https://twitter.com/herdyshepherd1 https://twitter.com/herdyshepherd1 Every time I visit his timeline I end up in a farming Twitter scroll trance.
- nkurz 5y ago
  For those looking for a longer form than Twitter, his first book is great: The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape (https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Life-Dispatches-Ancient-Landscape/dp/1250060265 https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Life-Dispatches-Ancient-Lan...). Rebanks also has a new one out last year, but I haven't read it yet: English Pastoral (https://www.amazon.com/English-Pastoral/dp/0241245729 https://www.amazon.com/English-Pastoral/dp/0241245729). Anyone have opinions?
  - railton 5y ago
    I've read both and think English Pastoral is marginally better. Less sheep, more general farming stuff and stronger narrative of old-school farming with his grandfather to modern industrialised then to present where he's doing more regenerative agriculture. You can get a signed copy from his local Lake District bookshop btw: https://www.samreadbooks.co.uk/product/EnglishPastoral/2244 https://www.samreadbooks.co.uk/product/EnglishPastoral/2244
Doctor_Fegg 5y ago
There's the old story about a supply teacher coming in to teach a reception class in a Lake District primary school for the morning. The teacher decides to do some literacy work and points to a picture of a sheep on the wall. "Now, class, can anyone tell me what this is? It begins with 'S'." Silence from the class. "Anyone? Maybe you've seen them in the fields?" Still nothing. She decides to work with one particular kid who looks quite exercised by the whole thing. "Maisie, have you ever seen one of these before?" Maisie replies exasperatedly: "But miss, Herdwick begins with a H!"
- Normal_gaussian 5y ago
  This made me laugh. It brings together the absurdities I've noticed going back home over the years. I could seriously see this playing out with Ewe (locally pronounced yow) over Herdwick! Particularly with some of the valley primaries which are just a handful of farming kids.
- ketamine__ 5y ago
  Great story!
mellosouls 5y ago
Perhaps the original has changed since, but surely we need 'smiley' in the headline? Outrageous editorialising. :)

39 points by bananapear 5y ago

publicola1990 5y ago

At last a somewhat sane headline from BBC. By their usual practice in recent times it would be patterned something like: 'The unknown mystery animal that shaped the Lake District'.

rwnspace 5y ago
And yet here I was, going to the comments first (as is tradition), wondering whether Herdwicks is an individual sheep with the power to terraform, or a breed of some mild historical significance.
- bloat 5y ago
  Well, I guess 'terraforming' is an overstatement, but hill farming in general and the sheep specifically have had a profound effect on the landscape. This link is to a polemic, but it also contains plenty of references. https://www.monbiot.com/2013/05/30/sheepwrecked/ https://www.monbiot.com/2013/05/30/sheepwrecked/
  - youngtaff 5y ago
    Considering how much damage sheep do to the landscape and how unprofitable sheep farming, I think we'd be off paying sheep farmers to re-wild the hills
    - cmrdporcupine 5y ago
      Yep I've been thinking about adding some little babydoll southdown sheep here to my hobby farm -- mostly because they're cute but also so I don't have to mow as much and to help weed the vineyard and make some manure for the garden and to give my border collie something to do -- and what I've noticed is that almost everyone keeping sheep around here is doing it for the same kinds of reasons. They're cute. Keeping sheep gives that pastoral feel. (As my teen daughter would say ... It's cottage-core). It's something their family did. Etc. Almost nobody is doing it because it's profitable. At least around here (southern Ontario) it wouldn't be an environmentally problematic thing, but there are definitely places in the world where the land _and_ economics would be much better off without ruminants and returned to a natural state.
  - bitwize 5y ago
    I've heard of goats used for "terraforming". Several U.S. states have used them to remove invasive plant species (by eating them, because goat).

frereubu 5y ago

This is the Twitter account for a shepherd on Twitter whose flock is made up of Herdwicks: https://twitter.com/herdyshepherd1 https://twitter.com/herdyshepherd1 Every time I visit his timeline I end up in a farming Twitter scroll trance.

nkurz 5y ago
For those looking for a longer form than Twitter, his first book is great: The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape (https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Life-Dispatches-Ancient-Landscape/dp/1250060265 https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Life-Dispatches-Ancient-Lan...). Rebanks also has a new one out last year, but I haven't read it yet: English Pastoral (https://www.amazon.com/English-Pastoral/dp/0241245729 https://www.amazon.com/English-Pastoral/dp/0241245729). Anyone have opinions?
- railton 5y ago
  I've read both and think English Pastoral is marginally better. Less sheep, more general farming stuff and stronger narrative of old-school farming with his grandfather to modern industrialised then to present where he's doing more regenerative agriculture. You can get a signed copy from his local Lake District bookshop btw: https://www.samreadbooks.co.uk/product/EnglishPastoral/2244 https://www.samreadbooks.co.uk/product/EnglishPastoral/2244

Doctor_Fegg 5y ago

There's the old story about a supply teacher coming in to teach a reception class in a Lake District primary school for the morning. The teacher decides to do some literacy work and points to a picture of a sheep on the wall. "Now, class, can anyone tell me what this is? It begins with 'S'." Silence from the class. "Anyone? Maybe you've seen them in the fields?" Still nothing. She decides to work with one particular kid who looks quite exercised by the whole thing. "Maisie, have you ever seen one of these before?" Maisie replies exasperatedly: "But miss, Herdwick begins with a H!"

Normal_gaussian 5y ago
This made me laugh. It brings together the absurdities I've noticed going back home over the years. I could seriously see this playing out with Ewe (locally pronounced yow) over Herdwick! Particularly with some of the valley primaries which are just a handful of farming kids.
ketamine__ 5y ago
Great story!

mellosouls 5y ago

Perhaps the original has changed since, but surely we need 'smiley' in the headline? Outrageous editorialising. :)