James Read will be lambing mule ewes outside

Autumn is probably my favourite time of the year, not just because of all the vibrant colours and wildlife but it brings to a close all the endless hours on a tractor seat as our arable side of the business slows for winter. This lets me concentrate on my two great passions in life, my sheep and dogs.

We have had a change in policy. We will be lambing our mule ewes outside in April; latterly we have lambed mid February indoors. Two new tups have been purchased, Charollais x Texel. I ended up putting them in a week early in November as we could not keep them contained in the church yard. My young dog, Jim, is a dab hand at retrieving them. He stands his ground with his big black coat, just like the New Zealand Rugby back row, with a lump of wool in his mouth as his trophy.

My Scotch half-bred shearlings have sold well this year and their replacement ewe lambs have not been too much of a big hit.

Last month I took the last of my shearlings to market. I bumped into the rudest farmer. While I was in the queue to the wash out this said farmer barged his way into the space where I was backing. After a few rounds of abuse saying I was too slow, I decided to seek revenge and walked round the corner with my hosepipe and gave him a thorough shower, much to the amusement of onlookers.

I’ve collected two new pups over the summer; Tom is bred by Aled Owens and Mirk is out of Chloe Croppers Ned. Training these young ones will keep me busy over the next few weeks.

James Read farms at Louth on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds in partnership with his father. They farm 400ha of mainly arable land and are the main contractors on 700ha. With 200 breeding sheep and a pack of working/trialling sheepdogs.

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