 But the long hours and lack of sleep don’t bother him in the slightest – working the land makes him feel like the luckiest guy alive. However, living in a quaint farmhouse accessed via uneven roads, on exposed marshland that gets harsh winters and few visitors, he admits it’s not an easy life. He says: “It’s difficult to make a good living out of this, but we both love it and don’t consider it a job at all. I couldn't do it without Carol's company and help, but it's a way of life to us, a way of life that can be unpredictable. Sometimes the weather’s against you and it gets incredibly cold on the marshes. But I feel totally responsible for myself and use my common sense when in doubt about anything. If something doesn’t work it doesn’t work, it’s as simple as that.” Managing livestock is no picnic, as Ken readily admits. His sheep are never that far from doing themselves a serious disservice. “Shepherds have a saying”, he says. “All sheep are born with a mischievous desire to find a new way of dying’. They fall over onto their backs and can’t get up. And if I don't get there in time the gas inside them builds up and they could die. They also fall into ditches, get tangled up in fencing or plunge into the water; just about anything you can imagine – they’ll do it.”   Ken keeps the sheep separated in different fields according to age. The older a ewe gets the less productive she becomes in terms of breeding, so the flock's numbers are thinned out according to their productivity. They have to be counted regularly and a close eye must be kept on their general health and welfare. By the time lambing season comes round the real work begins. Ken and Carolget very little sleep during this six or seven-week period from the end of March to mid May. Each ewe has been tagged and the Baxters roughly know when each expectant member of the flock should deliver the goods, as it were. Long days and nights pass as the meticulous waiting game continues. “It all happens in the open”, Ken reveals. “It’s as natural a process as we can possibly make it. Which is so different to intensive farming, a ewe delivers and we check to see she’s got a good mothering ability. “We rate that and if she doesn’t make the grade we have to lose her from the flock. That ability is vital. Then, later we take the lambs and sell them at a market in Ashford.” It’s clearly an exhausting way of life. And although he takes great care over his flock, he’s far from sentimental about the lambing process. He says: “Look around you, who wouldn’t want a life like this? Of course, some people get a bit misty eyed about baby lambs but income and always Standing where the pasture land meets the river, he takes in the As well as shepherding, Ken undertakes important conservation work that’s monitored by various government agencies, including Ken says: “I don’t like to think about what will happen when I can’t do this anymore. That’s how much I enjoy it. But as long as I’m able, I’ll take care of things and enjoy every single second of it.” |
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