Sheep housing (Part 2) : How some things have changed

My outlook has changed dramatically during the last 30 years. After writing the last blog," Housing sheep and Shepherds" I had a look at what I thought 30 years ago. How did I justify bringing sheep indoors for the winter in 1983?

The ten advantages that I listed were all to do with increased output, lower costs and higher profit. there was no mention of how much nicer it would be for the Shepherd to work indoors during the worst part of the year. How do I know this?

In 1984, Farming Press published, The Sheep Housing Handbook" and I was the author; gung ho, energetic and long haired. It must have been a best seller of sorts because they sold the whole print run of 3,000 without it being remaindered but there was no second edition which is a bit suspicious.

The royalties paid for a family holiday in France and I discovered my current copy on the shelves of a secondhand bookshop on Skye.

Other things have changed. Today I hope that I wouldn't suffer from the hubris that lead me to believe I was an expert. Animal and human welfare would be much more important and I could do it on the blog anyway.

Apart from weddings and funerals I don't think I've worn a tie in recent years, the pipe was discarded that year and a crew cut is much lower maintenance.