Fencing

Charlie connected and placed fence wire, posts, sledgehammer, staples and then me onto the topper, and drove the tractor up the steep incline of the farmhouse paddock.

Looking back it is always breathtaking, how lucky I am to have lived here in peace, within the Borthwick valley. The steaks hammered into the ground quite easily, considering there is solid bedrock, in areas protruding to the surface. The wire mesh was heavy and tort, as I rolled a one-hundred yard length along the side of the hill.

Before letting out the naughty absconding lambs from their detention pen and into the newly fenced paddock; we had to give them numbered ear tags. The piercing doesn't seem to hurt them, a mild discomfort in contrast to how much the other observing lambs feared this necessity was irrational. They have to wear these ear identification tags by law, and it is illegal to remove them without the owner's consent. These numbers will be logged into a shepherds book and added to a movement book when transported to market.

To finish off a productive day we wound down by taking a drive through the Craik Forest; we almost reached the outdoor centre before turning back towards Roberton.