Meet Champ

Champ is Chris' new sheepdog - a lovely tri-colour border collie.

Young and keen, he has a few rough edges but is learning fast.

Rudding and Tupping

Its tupping time on the farm.

Each tup gets a portion of tup ration to keep his energy levels up.

 

 He has lots of ladies to serve.

 

 A fresh coat of tup rud is applied every day.  All our ewes with yellow bottoms should be in lamb.

The colour of the tup rud is changed every two weeks.  

 And he's straight into action.

Pry House ewes in High Pasture

Yows in High Pasture with Pry House in the background.

On a cold, snowy winter's morning the sheep are ready for some extra fodder

Ghost cows seek new home!

Unfortunately the Every Barn Tells A Story ghost cows cannot stay in 

Myers Bottom cowhouse for ever .......

They have left the cowus behind and must look for a new home.

With skillful manoeuvring, the large bovine is brought into the Public Hall.....

..... where she shares the stage with Shep the sheepdog.

 

The smaller calf has a new home in the Keld Countryside & Heritage Centre 

which has new Every Barn Tells A Story information boards and audio recording.

The ghost puppets are for the use of the whole community.  If anyone has any ideas how they can be used e.g. for fundraising, parades & productions or by the local school please get in touch.

The other cow and calf puppets are going back to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Centre in Bainbridge / Grassington

Every Barn Tells A Story - Ghost Cow Night

Last Friday night to mark the end of the Every Barn Cowus Tells A Story project

and as a 'thank you' to the local community for their involvement, an evening of

celebration was arranged by the YDNPark.

 The whole project has centred on the iconic little stone buildings that Upper Swaledale is famous for (called cowhouses) and as the name suggests is where the cows lived throughout the winter.  The cowhouses are not used for this purpose anymore.  The cows are no longer brought in from the high pastures to winter in these little buildings anymore.  

Except it did happen ....  for one last time ....last Friday night.

Ghost cows were 'called in' by a local choir singing a song that had been especially written for the occasion and sung by local people.

And as the voices rang out two ghostly cows and two ghostly calves were herded into Myers Bottom cowhouse by the apparition of a sheepdog.

The ghost cows were decorated with quotes from local adults about their experiences and memories of when the cowhouses were in daily use as well as words from local children who have been learning about the cowhouses and the part they play in the history of the upper dale.

Read the full Ghost Cow story and find out more about Every Barn Tells A Story at:

everybarn.yorkshiredales.org.uk

Six EBTAS Cowhouse Walking Booklets & A Children's Cowus Circular Walk leaflet

The Yorkshire Dales National Park's project Every Barn Cow'us Tells A Story

is almost at completion. The project has its own blog http://everybarn.yorkshiredales.org.uk/blog/

where you can follow the whole story and learn loads & loads about cowhouses.

A boxed set of six walking booklets has been produced, each chosen to highlight and explain the importance of the dozens of little stone buildings (Cowhouses) that are visible from every public footpath in Muker parish.

 They have been distributed to accommodation providers in the area.  Here, a regular guest at Pry House Farm B&B is deciding which walk he will choose to explore.

Alongside the grown-up version is Showing You the Way ....... from Muker to Thwaite,

 a children's circular cowhouse trail which was created with the help of children 

living in Muker Parish.  

 There are two other Showing You the Way ........ children's guided walk leaflets;  Keld to Muker and Keld to Angram (circular walk) both of which can be used in conjuction with the EBTAS booklets although, as children's walks, they are a bit shorter. 

All three Showing You the Way leaflets are available in the Keld Countryside & Heritage Centre 

and hopefully by 2018 in the National Park Centre - Hudson House, Reeth.

Last night looking skyward

Pink sky at night, shepherd's delight.

The old sayings are often very reliable.  Last night's sky is no exception
as today has been a glorious autumn day.

New arrivals on the farm

Two new calves in two days

 Taking a quick peep at a whole new world

 

A model baby.....curled up and comfortable and fast asleep.

 

This big strong calf, born this morning, is less than an hour old.

He is getting thoroughly dried off and inspected by mum 

and will be on his feet and suckling in no time at all.