Our dogs are our children, they are our friends and, when it comes to working the farm, they are our business partners.  Yes they do come in the house and although they are often limited to the kitchen and mud room they usually get to sleep on the floor in the bedroom at night.  We do occasionally breed and we will sometimes sell a dog to someone else.  I do not find selling a dog and thinking of it as a child/friend contradictory.  Just as children eventually leave home some dogs eventually move on to new phases of their life, we do not love them any less, we miss them, and we are very careful about where they go but life involves changes and sacrifice, old friends move on and new ones come along.

    The sheep on our farm are under our care and we take that responsibility very seriously.  Despite the fact that we have between 100 and 200 a significant number of them have names, we can identify most of them as individuals.  If a sheep is sick or injured we will usually take extraordinary measures to help it, often spending considerably more than the animal is worth.  We do this because we care about them and believe we have an obligation to do our very best for them. 

    Every possible step is taken to ensure the survival of every possible lamb.  However, our sheep are not pets. While we do everything possible to ensure a happy healthy life for our sheep while they are here they are after all farm animals and a significant part of our livelihood.   There is nothing more relaxing than watching sheep graze in the fields, there is nothing more entertaining than watching the lambs race, leap in the air and play king of the hill. and there is nothing more rewarding than watching the lambs grow up big and strong and healthy.

Ian Caldicott
Wolston Farms

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way."