Dear old Tufty came to us as a young ram and grew into a fine and productive gentleman. Truly gentle he was never, as some rams are, aggressive.

Now he has lost all his strength and condition and he has become very thin and in the last few days almost unable to take more than a few steps.

The vet is coming this morning to save him an undignified end – which would mean starvation, pain and suffering.

The 1800 acre Hatley Park Estate was bought in 1946 by Sir John Astor the youngest son of Nancy Astor, who was the first female MP to take her seat in the House of Commons in 1919.

The estate is beautifully maintained and contains Buff Wood, a site of special scientific interest managed jointly with the Woodland Trust. The Park contains a herd of pedigree beef shorthorn cattle.

The arable crops grown in the fields are wheat, barley and oilseed rape.

There are plenty of well-maintained footpaths cross-crossing the estate and it was a splendid u3a walk on a sunny autumn morning.

I often see crows and jackdaws sitting on the back of the sheep.

What are they doing? In springtime they might be harvesting loose wool for nest building. At this time of year they are more likely to be feeding on ticks and parasites.

The sheep seem quite content to give them a ride and perhaps enjoy the gentle pecking.

Today we keep a flock of two-horned Jacobs.

I’m not complaining!

Whilst Jeremy was milking Willow, Tina couldn’t wait for her bottle and tried to jump out of the just shed.

Luckily our visitors were on hand to untangle Tina and take the photograph. Apparently Dolly had jumped over the gate without any problem!