This is the preparation that we do before we gather our sheep in October

There are seven or eight flocks grazing together on the mountain. It can be called commonage but there are only a few farmers that have permission to graze this area of the mountain.
There is about 3000 acres up here that is available for the sheep to graze.
The Sheep could even go outside this big area and travel big distances if they were not hefted to this ground.
'Hefted' means that at some point, someone stayed with each of these flocks and made sure that they did not stray from this area of ground. Then the ewe lambs went back and knew to stay inside the invisible boundaries and every year the daughters go back back with their mothers and get imprinted with this information. That is why these farmers on this mountain rarely sell any ewe lambs. Instead they will sell the ewes when they get to three or four years old becuase after that, their mouths let them down losing teeth etc and the ewes are not healthy and strong for survival on the hill.

When we pick a new ram for breeding, it is very important to us that their mouth is correct becuase it will be the future strength of our flock.

It is nearly the end of October now and it is time to gather our sheep on the mountain so that we can bring them down to the lowland for mating.

These are mostly Wicklow Cheviot ewes. One or two of the farmers up here have Lanark or Blackface ewes. The blackface are a horned sheep whereas the cheviots are white faced and the females never have horns.

We really need the help of good dogs to gather the mountain
This video shows how we move the sheep up out of the rocky valley using a sheepdog. Herding dogs are the most effective way to get the sheep to move up out of the rocks to the top ground for gathering by the shepherds. Border Collies are the dog traditionally used for this work although a New Zealand huntaway could be very useful for moving sheep out of this rocky area, if we had one. Some of the farmers in this area have a little bit of kelpie in their breeding and that can help with stamina and a natural desire to wear sheep and put them together.

We will gather the 800 ewes off this mountain in Glenmalure in Wicklow, this coming weekend