Sheep etc.

[superpippo]

#1 is a really good shot

 

[Ed Sutton]

#1 is a really good shot

Ta.

I'll have a load of rubbish to post later or tomorrow!

 

[Ed Sutton]

At last the sun shone. Not that it did me any good. I really struggled to make any decent pictures at the English Nursery Final yesterday.

If you want to get pictures of sheep dogs in action then you need the right gear, or a venue where you can get a close, uninterrupted view of some of the action. With that in mind I'm giving up on that side of things. And as there isn't much else to a sheep dog trial that I haven't photographed I think I might as well give up on them altogether!





Rubbish action shots - mostly large crops.







Off-field dogs are always entertaining.





The scores were posted sporadically.



Checking the final results before the big reveal.



The top ten individuals line up.



The winning team from East Anglia is photographed.



An enjoyable day out, but I could quite happily delete the few files I've not already dumped.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I stayed close to home this sunny weekend, but went in search of sheep. It definitely felt like spring with larks singing and lapwings displaying.

There's a handy parking spot by a small field where a couple of pet sheep live.



Three weeks ago this field was green. The beet tops have all been devoured. Now the roots are being nibbled and the ground trampled by pointy hooves.







Elsewhere the lambs are out.



On my way home along the road parallel with the marsh I stopped the car to allow a farmer to back his sheep trailer into a field entrance. His first attempt almost tipped the lot in a ditch.

 

[Ed Sutton]

More local sheep I chanced upon this afternoon. Grazing on mixed veg.











And the lamb fields.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I had to miss the Pennine Interclub Championship yesterday but made it to the inaugural War of the Roses sheep dog trial today where the home team were victorious and claimed the individual title too.

Craig had had a successful nursery season and had his trophies with him.



I'm quite pleased with this shot - apart from my reflection. But trophies are tricky things to photograph.



Those cups have a long history. These started theirs today.



Some dogs pics.









More to follow when I've weeded out all the dross.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Finally sorted out the bulk of the rubbish. Even the better stuff is pretty poor.

Trying to give a sense of how far the dogs had to run.



And the terrain they have to cross.



Dog eyeing sheep.



Sheep eyeing dog.



Action.



The shed.



Inaction.



Pointing out where mistakes took place.



Watching the results being read out.



Fairly unproductive in terms of picture making, but made reached some technical conclusions.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I only use the video on cameras when I know I can't get any decent stills.

These sheep walked straight in the pen, which was unexpected. The shed (splitting four into two pairs) went well too. Mind you he is a good handler with a good dog.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-i422CAFa8&ab_channel=DaveLumb

 

[sirch]

View attachment 346912
One of my favourite shot from where I live in Malvern - this is at British camp

I'll leave it up to Dave as to whether he is happy to have this in his "Personal Project" but just as a hint, @Foxphotos, if you see a thread with title like "Open Thread" or "Post your xxx photos here" then feel free to post your own photos, OTOH if you see something in the Personal Projects and Themes section then it is usually an individuals own thread for an on-going project and it would get a bit confused if it was interspersed with other people's work

 

[sphexx]

I only use the video on cameras when I know I can't get any decent stills.

These sheep walked straight in the pen, which was unexpected. The shed (splitting four into two pairs) went well too. Mind you he is a good handler with a good dog.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-i422CAFa8&ab_channel=DaveLumb

The sheep have been practising for this moment and now you give all the credit to the man and dog .

 

[superpippo]

Some good stuff there.
I particularly like the shots where the dog(s) are observing what is going on in the background or off camera.
The video exemplifies the stop/start, left/right of the dog. And then suddenly very very still.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I'll leave it up to Dave as to whether he is happy to have this in his "Personal Project" but just as a hint, @Foxphotos, if you see a thread with title like "Open Thread" or "Post your xxx photos here" then feel free to post your own photos, OTOH if you see something in the Personal Projects and Themes section then it is usually an individuals own thread for an on-going project and it would get a bit confused if it was interspersed with other people's work

I was going to let one go, but this is my project about sheep farming/breeding and the culture surrounding it, so I'd prefer not to have other people's random sheep snaps appearing in it. They belong in an open sheep thread in Captive, Domesticated and Plants IMO.

Sorry for any offence I may have caused with this post.

 

[Dale.]

I was going to let one go, but this is my project about sheep farming/breeding and the culture surrounding it, so I'd prefer not to have other people's random sheep snaps appearing in it. They belong in an open sheep thread in Captive, Domesticated and Plants IMO.

Sorry for any offence I may have caused with this post.

Tidied that up for you Dave.

@Foxphotos , @Boonie, Show us your sheeps in your own threads please.

Thanks.

 

[TheBigYin]

Sorry for any offence I may have caused with this post.

no need to apologise - it's the thread crashers who need to do so.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Tidied that up for you Dave.

@Foxphotos , @Boonie, Show us your sheeps in your own threads please.

Thanks.

no need to apologise - it's the thread crashers who need to do so.

Thanks both.

 

[superpippo]

I was going to let one go, but this is my project about sheep farming/breeding and the culture surrounding it, so I'd prefer not to have other people's random sheep snaps appearing in it. They belong in an open sheep thread in Captive, Domesticated and Plants IMO.

Sorry for any offence I may have caused with this post.

Tidied that up for you Dave.

@Foxphotos , @Boonie, Show us your sheeps in your own threads please.

Thanks.

no need to apologise - it's the thread crashers who need to do so.

FWIW. I fully agree

 

[Ed Sutton]

Some good stuff there.
I particularly like the shots where the dog(s) are observing what is going on in the background or off camera.
The video exemplifies the stop/start, left/right of the dog. And then suddenly very very still.

Ta. The dogs that aren't running are still very focussed. There seems to be nothing they want to do more than herd sheep!

 

[Foxphotos]

I'll leave it up to Dave as to whether he is happy to have this in his "Personal Project" but just as a hint, @Foxphotos, if you see a thread with title like "Open Thread" or "Post your xxx photos here" then feel free to post your own photos, OTOH if you see something in the Personal Projects and Themes section then it is usually an individuals own thread for an on-going project and it would get a bit confused if it was interspersed with other people's work

Arr I’m so sorry guys. I’m really new to all this forum stuff. Please accept my apologies. Thank you for explaining.

 

[Foxphotos]

no need to apologise - it's the thread crashers who need to do so.

Apology given. Was just a lack of knowledge and not intentional. Sorry

 

[Ed Sutton]

Some evening local sheep snaps. Lambs are growing well. When I was a lad sheep were a rare sight round here. It's only in the last twenty (or less) years this particular farm (in the background of the first pic) has been a sheep farm, for example, and now they run sheep all over the area. The fields around the farm are permanently fenced with sheep netting, but very few mossland fields have fences or hedges, their borders being ditches for the most part. Electric fencing can be quickly erected anywhere there is suitable grazing, on anyone's land, so opening up extra grazing. If fertiliser prices remain as high as they are now this kind of rotational grazing could become even more common.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Got a new-to-me lens yesterday so what better way to test it than creating some lamb spam!

I'm not picky about sharpness and all that but this lens isn't convincing me it's fit for my purposes. The dog trial next weekend will be the acid test.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I only nipped out to post a letter but thought I'd take the lens for another test not expecting to see any sheep. I hadn't bothered throwing in a shorter lens. Which is probably why I stumbled upon some sheep work on the bank.... The long lens was fine for the sheep and lambs on the bank, but far too long for what was in the pens by the gate.

The ewes are ever watchful.



This one didn't know where mum was, and I'm not sure it was the ewe behind it despite it following it around.



Restful.





Active.



Protective. I kept well away from this pair and turned back.



This could have been good if I'd been more prepared.



No escape!



They don't come much frehser than this, and already up and sucking. This was as wide a shot as I could get as there was no room to move back.



I keep trying to get more chances for this sort of subject matter but I don't seem to have whatever gift of the gab is required. I think I might go back to photographing lost balls.

 

[sirch]

Great to get the new born

 

[Ed Sutton]

Great to get the new born

Wished I'd had a wider lens, but still great to see. I love the way they always look like their skin is a size too big for them when they're freshly hatched.

 

[superpippo]

Good set.

I particularly like the ones where the ewe is looking directly at you, being wary and protective as you say.

 

[Ed Sutton]

Some casual lamb racing pics for entertainment value rather than artistic or documentary merit.

 

[Ed Sutton]

I took my new lens to a sheep dog trial today, but took a break to go find some Lonks. It paid off. I'm getting closer to a shot I have in mind of a Lonk tup on a moor with a former mill town in the background. I spent some time stalking a ewe which did me proud by posing in the almost perfect spot. the village in the background is, I'm pretty sure, part of the one where the breed society has held it's autumn show for decades. For once I persisted and it paid off.







There might be some more photos later. If any of them are in focus...

 

[Ed Sutton]

Well... I'm not sure if the new lens was a good idea or not. I'm not a pixel peeper and I have found plenty of lenses which get written off on t'web to be perfectly serviceable. But this is proving to be no better than the lens I traded in for it which cost a fraction of the price! Having a longer maximum focal length it did get me pictures I wouldn't have got otherwise without a lot of cropping. Some of them were even in focus...





The running about photos are quite fun to take but I'm not sure they add much to the story. Although there have been a few action shots which have work better.



The less frantic shots generally feel more like pictures.











I also went to the other extreme with my neglected ultrawide. It looks lovely and springlike. Felt more like midwinter in the wind!



Almost 500 frames culled down to just over 100 worth keeping either as 'keepers' or reminders for what I might do better in future. Not a total waste of time I suppose.

Coming up next month is May Madness. There are, if I've got it right, fourteen trials being held over eleven consecutive days in the Pennine region, some days two trials running at different venues. I'll not be going to all of them, although I wouldn't be surprised if a few handlers do!

 

[sirch]

I took my new lens to a sheep dog trial today, but took a break to go find some Lonks. It paid off. I'm getting closer to a shot I have in mind of a Lonk tup on a moor with a former mill town in the background. I spent some time stalking a ewe which did me proud by posing in the almost perfect spot. the village in the background is, I'm pretty sure, part of the one where the breed society has held it's autumn show for decades. For once I persisted and it paid off.

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There might be some more photos later. If any of them are in focus...

When I looked at the "contact sheet" before realising you had posted some selections, my pick was the one you had selected first above, really tells a story.

 

[Ed Sutton]

When I looked at the "contact sheet" before realising you had posted some selections, my pick was the one you had selected first above, really tells a story.

Thanks. I'm quite pleased with it (for now). I also see it as an antidote to the 'wild moorland', romanticised, sheep pictures associated with Herdwicks in Cumbria and Swaledales in the North Pennines. The Lancs/Yorks mid-Pennine region isn't generally associated with sheep farming, nor moorlands with close proximity to habitation and industry, but that is what it's like. Driving back I had a wide view over teh M65 corridor, which is heavily built up and industrialised, yet surrounded by moors with vistas to Pendle Hill, across the Ribble Valley to Longridge Fell and Bowland beyond. All of them sheep country, and much of it Lonk country too.

 

[superpippo]

Very nice 'portrait' shot of the sheep on the hillside (the first one - the other tight crop loses some of the purpose of the shot IMO)

 

[Ed Sutton]

The Easter Monday Open trial is always a social occasion. This year it was a charity even raising money for one of the local society members who, at only 44, had a stroke a few weeks ago. The generosity on show with donations to the auction and proceeds from food and refreshment sales was outstanding. Ricky Hutchinson, one of the country's top handlers and breeders donated a pup. I think the auction was the main event of the day with the trial playing second fiddle. I spent more time photographing what was going on off the field than the dog action.

This was early on, by lunch time there were half as many vehicles again.



There were vehicles there with French and Swiss plates.



Stuff for the auction. More came along later.



Hog roast, beef or venison butties, refreshments. All proceeds to Claire.





Cake stall.



Ricky's pup.



Sold!



Another pup under the hammer.



There was an Easter egg hunt for the little ones.



I'll put some of my more usual random stuff in a second post.

 

[Ed Sutton]

 

[Ed Sutton]

I'm a bit restricted at present, suffering with a sore foot which is preventing me walking any distance. So I had an evening drive. Passed some unexpected sheep grazing off the remains of a brassica crop. I thought I'd catch them on my way back. Naturally the sun did a disappearing act and the sheep were wandering away from the road when I returned!

I've a choice of events tomorrow, but I'm not sure my foot is up to it. Still, last week's stiff neck has cleared up.



Three-legged sheep?

 

[Ed Sutton]

I had a change today and decided against the sheep dog trial and the rare breed sale.

The other event was closer than those, and looked easy to find on Google... After a five mile drive round all the lanes except the one the farm was on I got there just a few minutes late.



Fear not. There will be (unexpected) sheep content later when I get through editing the mess of files down to manageable proportions.

The foot is now telling me I should have stayed home.

 

[Ed Sutton]

The internet is great for doing research. Aside from learning about this sale I was able to download the catalogue and see there were quite a few sheep related items included. Lots of hurdles, including some wooden ones, a sheep race, feeders, weighing crates and such like. Which convinced me it was worth a look.







The family were moving on after fifteen years at the end of their tenancy. Everything must go. Including gates still in use. The auctioneers had told them there's a buyer for everything, put nothing in the scrap until after the sale! Only the absolute rubbish, like bald tyres, failed to sell. Sometimes combining two lots shifted one that was sticking. Good auctioneers know all the tricks to get a sale.

The rack of metal in the barn below was a job lot. I went in for a nosey and found...



Lots of rusticity...



And a pen of sheep!



One sheep was in 'the naughty pen'.



A first time lamber, her lamb had died and she wasn't taking to the one that had been mothered on to her. So into the head yoke she went. The lamb was lying down at the back of the pen.



As someone I met there who I know from the show scene said, most people were there to see what kind of junk other farmers have accumulated! The serious bidders had come well prepared though, with trailers big enough to hold a tractor.

I've got lots of pictures of the sale, the people, and the old buildings. But as they're not strictly sheep related please let me know if they belong in this thread. Thanks for looking.

 

[superpippo]

View attachment 350506

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Humourous juxtaposition of #2 and#3

 

[superpippo]

The internet is great for doing research. Aside from learning about this sale I was able to download the catalogue and see there were quite a few sheep related items included. Lots of hurdles, including some wooden ones, a sheep race, feeders, weighing crates and such like. Which convinced me it was worth a look.

View attachment 350969

View attachment 350968

View attachment 350967

The family were moving on after fifteen years at the end of their tenancy. Everything must go. Including gates still in use. The auctioneers had told them there's a buyer for everything, put nothing in the scrap until after the sale! Only the absolute rubbish, like bald tyres, failed to sell. Sometimes combining two lots shifted one that was sticking. Good auctioneers know all the tricks to get a sale.

The rack of metal in the barn below was a job lot. I went in for a nosey and found...

View attachment 350964

Lots of rusticity...

View attachment 350960

And a pen of sheep!

View attachment 350963

One sheep was in 'the naughty pen'.

View attachment 350962

A first time lamber, her lamb had died and she wasn't taking to the one that had been mothered on to her. So into the head yoke she went. The lamb was lying down at the back of the pen.

View attachment 350961

As someone I met there who I know from the show scene said, most people were there to see what kind of junk other farmers have accumulated! The serious bidders had come well prepared though, with trailers big enough to hold a tractor.

I've got lots of pictures of the sale, the people, and the old buildings. But as they're not strictly sheep related please let me know if they belong in this thread. Thanks for looking.

A good set IMO

 

[Ed Sutton]

Humourous juxtaposition of #2 and#3

 

[Ed Sutton]

I've got lots of pictures of the sale, the people, and the old buildings. But as they're not strictly sheep related please let me know if they belong in this thread. Thanks for looking.

I'll post them anyway!