Tupping time

Well autumn has definitely begun now. The rain has woken me a few times in the night and even around here there are flooded fields and, for once, full streams. The leaves have not all fallen though, which I think must be a record, and so far most days have been very mild.
I stopped to photograph these ladies in their rain washed coats, bright in the morning sun and ready for tupping. My friend tells me that hers all went to the ram in October and that they will be expecting very early lambs this year - around the end of February, so I hope the winter is kind by then. I love their oversized, wrinkled skins. Rubbing them you can feel their ribs under their wooly jumpers like toddlers squirming under the towel at bathtime. One day, when work ends I would love to raise one in my kitchen. That day when I have a pig in the garden too......