The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
Horseback Shepherd
Shepherding cowboy wrangles the flock
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Overview
A sheep farmer rounds up a flock of sheep on horseback near Lynmouth Bay on the edge of Exmoor in North Devon. Lambing is from December to April and in Devon shearing is typically in May and June. Most sheep are bred for lamb and mutton meat, although for hundreds of years wool was a highly valued commodity. Sheepherding is one of the oldest occupations thought to have begun over 5000 years ago.
The duty of a shepherd is to protect the flock from predators and to guide it to market for shearing and slaughter. Unlike sheep farmers, shepherds are largely nomadic and travel with their flock. In Britain predators have been reduced and hardy breeds of sheep are frequently left alone for long periods of time and moved to fresh pasture when necessary. The sheep farmer differs from a shepherd because the flock is only tended during lambing and shearing seasons.
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