The final edition of the Tyne Tees programme investigating topics affecting life in the North East. In this edition. Northern Eye follows students from Northumberland College as they attend the countries only centre for specialist training as shepherds based at both Kirkley Hall near Newcastle and Carlcroft Farm in the Coquet Valley. The course teaches the students the skills they will need to be a new generation of skilled farm workers. Title: Northern Eye. School for Shepherds The sights...

The final edition of the Tyne Tees programme investigating topics affecting life in the North East. In this edition. Northern Eye follows students from Northumberland College as they attend the countries only centre for specialist training as shepherds based at both Kirkley Hall near Newcastle and Carlcroft Farm in the Coquet Valley. The course teaches the students the skills they will need to be a new generation of skilled farm workers. Title: Northern Eye. School for Shepherds The sights and sounds of the Northumberland County Show followed by farmers standing beside pens holding their prized sheep. Two older farmers stand chatting changing to a younger one being presented with a trophy. A car comes along the driveway leading to Kirkley Hall near Ponteland where Northumberland College has a lowland sheep farm from which they run a shepherding course, in the fields beyond the hall sheep grazing. At the weekly dog training session, the six students on the course stand in the farmyard listening to Sheepdog Trainer Tony Iley, beside each of them their own sheepdog. The students watch Tony working with his dog to herd a flock of sheep in a nearby field. He is replaced by the students who practice the same skills with their dogs. Tony explains they are practicing to go out onto a sheep farm to do a basic job in the normal course of the farming year. Another student, Alice Fielding from Rippondon in West Yorkshire works with her dog, Tony talks about how well she and her dog are doing with Alice shows a lot of promise. In the farmyard Alice talks about how glad she is for coming on this course and about what she has learned as well as make new friends. Chris Gwilt, Agricultural Lecturer at Northumberland College explains they are the only college left in the country teaching shepherding. They are also unique in that they also run a certificated sheepdog course, as he talks Tony working a dog in a field. Chris Gwilt provides details of the course syllabus changing to the students working with cattle as part of a beef production module. With the Gable Burn running nearby Carlcroft Farm near Otterburn in the Coquet Valley, an upland farm also run by Northumberland College. In the hills shepherd Geoff Pringle works the 1200-acre farm watching over a flock of sheep. Beside the kitchen fire he talks about how he got into shepherding and being on the farm for eight years. Around the rooms family photographs and ornaments along with pictures of one of his dogs. As he talks about the life of a shepherd Geoff and his three dogs at work in the hills, Geoff using a whistle to give commands. Helping Geoff this week is student Kate Fell who with her dog help to herd some sheep. Geoff provides details of what the students learn on the farm as well as say how quiet and lonely it can be. Geoff and Kate walk through a field talking about one of the ewes and her lamb’s changes to Kate talks about what attracted her to become a shepherd. As she talks in voice-over, she feeds some lambs in a shed changing to her herding a flock of sheep with her dog beside the burn. Riding quadbikes Geoff and Kate come out of barn heading into the surrounding hills with their dogs, Geoff explains while there are few shepherds you can cover more ground with these bikes. Back in a barn Geoff watches over Kate who is looking after a new-born lamb, he asks her if she knows why it is important to get colostrum milk into it within the first few hours. She gives her answer, at her feet the lamb suckling from its mother. Down the valley at Well House Farm near Alwinton student Paul Heaney is on work experience with farmer James Hall. In a barn he squirts medication into the mouth of a lamb in a pen. In voice-over Paul describes his day as he feeds lambs and ewes in the barn. As he puts a rain mac onto the lamb he explains why. James Hall talks about working with Paul who didn’t require a lot of supervision. In the barn James shows Paul how to put the skin of a dead lamb onto another who has lost its mother, this should allow the lamb to be accepted by the ewe. In voice-over James explains why the course at Kirkley Hall is important. Back at Kirkley Hall Farm Alice Fielding is being tested manoeuvring a quadbike and trailer into position to load a pen of sheep into it. With the bike and trailer in position she walks over to Jerry White, Land and Environment Lecturer to receive some feedback. As Alice loads the sheep into the trailer Jerry explains the importance of such training in the use of quadbikes. With the sheep loaded she departs changing to her driving through the farmyard. A montage of students at work, the questions asked what future do these shepherds face? Title: Northern Eye. School for Shepherds It’s May at Kirkley Hall Farm and in the Shearing Unit students learning how to clip sheep watched over by tutor Chris Gwilt. Alice Fielding learned the skill from her parents but is to learn something new. As she talks about this new method, Alice shearing a sheep with a pair of electric clippers. Kate Fell finds it harder to shear and receives more guidance from the Chris. Her sheep sheard Chris holds up the wool which he explains will fetch around £1. Back at Carlcroft Farm in the Coquet Valley Geoff Pringle and Kate Fell ride out into the hills on their quadbikes followed by their dogs. Back at Kirkley Hall sheep grazing in nearby fields. Rachel Ellis-Jones, Principle of Northumberland College hopes that as the sheep industry is improving more young farmers will be attracted to the course and shepherding as a profession. She explains the importance of the college engaging with the industry it serves with a lot of input from a group of stakeholder farmers. At Hexham Auction Mart sheep are auctioned, in the pens nearby Chris Gwilt speaks with two students including Kate Fell showing them what kind of lambs to look out for at these marts. With Chris is Scott Donaldson from the mart who talks about the trade in lambs followed by him talking with Kate about the value of a lamb in one of the pens. Scott believes the industry will be in crisis if more young people don’t come into it. He explains the course is important as it is away to pass on the knowledge of older generation. Also at the mart is Jimmy Bell who as well as being a farmer is a butcher known locally as ‘The Lamb Man’. In a pen he looks over a herd of lambs changing to him in the fields of his own farm ,East Wingates Farm near Longhorsley where he rears a flock of Northumbrian Hill Lambs. As he feeds the sheep in a field, in voice-over he remembers being a student at Kirkley Hall 25-years previous. Attached to the side of a farm building a sign for ‘East Westgates Lamb. In the butchery he shows the students the special cuts on a sheep carcass, in voice-over he talks about how he selects, slaughters and butchers his own lambs before packing and taking them to the local farmers market to sell. Outside he explains why it is paramount that the course at Kirkley needs to continue to find and train the next generation of shepherds. Back at Kirkley Hall Farm Chris Gwilt believes today that shepherds taken on more than just shepherding so is the reason why the course also have modules in cattle and grassland management. On the farm Chris instructs the students on moving several calves into the crush and check them over. As a shepherd drives a quadbike and trailer across a field and deposits several lambs onto the grass, in voice-over Chris states that a good shepherd is very employable and command a good salary, he provides more details of what a shepherd can bring to the role. Back at the Northumberland County Show students from Kirkley Hall Farm are competing in a shearing competition watched by a large crowd. Outside a winning farm collects a silver shield for one of his sheep. A mobile stand for Northumberland College set up at the show promoting the shepherding course. Chris Gwilt believes it is vital that there is broader marketing across the United Kingdom as well as abroad to attract students, as he speaks views around Kirkley Hall and the farm. Back at Well House Farm student Paul Heaney drives his quadbike across a field accompanied by his dog and farmer James Hall. He states that if he doesn’t do the job then there would be no lamb to eat as well as stating that there needs to be more young shepherds. On her family farm Alice Fielding herds a flock of sheep in a field, she thinks other students shouldn’t be shy, jump right into it while back at Carlcroft Farm in the Coquet Valley Kate Fell says that while the job is hard it is also rewarding Credit: Camera Dave Dixon Graphics Dave Richardson Music McGregor Cook Sound Post Production The Edge Editor Peter Telford Executive Producer Mary Wimpress Producer Sheilagh Matheson Director Helen Spencer © ITV Tyne Tees 2008 End credit: Silver Lining production for ITV