Last Shepherds

Book excerpt: Once, the UK's farmers employed thousands of shepherds, but a slump in sheep farming has cut a swathe through their ranks; nowadays shepherds are virtually a thing of the past, and most flocks are herded by farmers on quad bikes. The Last Shepherds follows hill shepherds Dave Baxter and Stewart and Gwen Wallace through the cycle of hill farming in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland lambing in spring, haymaking, shearing in the summer, then autumn lamb sales and winter feeding. This engrossing book is an extraordinary record of a vanishing way of life on Britain's traditional hill farms."