The perfect package

Tim Tyne explains why he has a soft spot for the attractive Hampshire Down, which is simply ideal for small farmers

- Tim Tyne

One of my favourite breeds of sheep is the Hampshire Down. I’ve had a soft spot for them ever since, as a child on my parents’ smallholding in the mid-1980s, I bought my first ram, a Hampshire with the impressive pedigree name of Pockthorpe Colonel. I’d heard about him on the local smallholders’ grapevine (which worked just as efficiently as the internet does today!), an aged tup belonging to a shepherd in the next county, and destined for slaughter as he’d outlived his usefulness in a commercial flock. I phoned the chap and made arrangements to go and have a look. By coincidence, on the morning of the day we’d set, I picked up a magazine that my mother had been reading and found an article all about the man I was going to meet. Little did I then realise what far-reaching consequences all this would have on my life.

When we arrived at the farm, at the pre-arranged time, the shepherd was nowhere to be seen. I subsequently learned that it was quite typical for him to be at least an hour late for any appointment. I agreed to buy the ram for what he was worth to kill, and the shepherd, on asking where we lived, immediately offered to deliver him, free of charge, in a day or two. It later transpired that a former girlfriend of his lived in our village.

Having my own ram suddenly elevated my status within the local smallholding community, and before long I was getting requests from other flock owners wanting to bring ewes to run with him. One thing led to another, until I found myself doing quite a few shepherding jobs for the small-scale sheep keepers in the area, and helping out with the communal dipping, which was always a bit of an event.