Thomas Firbanks on ‘parasite dealers’ and the ‘small men who bleed the [farming] industry’, written in 1940

The best essays were later published in a book which make interesting reading on shepherding practices at the time, and the importance of a good dog. Quite rare & expensive to get hold of now, but there's a copy on ebay for £21 at the moment

In 1924, the Scottish Farmer ran a competition asking shepherds to write an essay on herding a hill hirsel. First prize went to W. Little, whose opening paragraph warned of 'unnecessary dogging especially on diseased land as quick and severe turns with a dog often causes death'.

James Lilico predicting the future of the sheepdog 100 years ago in the NZ Farmer.

Just finished a chapter for the book on sheepdog death, and what Mona Anderson called the 'jealous friendship' between shepherd and dog. The best sheepdog poetry is also about death, Bruce Stronach's 'Last Run' being the best.

"sensible men don't farm. It is the romantics who do, and the gamblers." Oliver Duff aka 'Sundowner' in the NZ Listener, 1951

No rest for @GeraintThomas86. Finished the @TourofBritain yesterday & retired from cycling, but straight into the office this morning to start his new job with @INEOSGrenadiers.

The updated bovine TB review by Charles Godfrey and others has been released. Happy to contribute to some of this.

Here they are, waiting to go to the start line, probably for a sprint heat/final, otherwise he'd be all aeroed up, as much we could back then.

Great film @TourofBritain. Nice picture of my legs. Thanks for the memories @GeraintThomas86

@nzherald Signs that a Huntaway will be involved are not looking good from the images used in the @maddailynz report

Whilst @nzherald report this as turning "A Dog's Show" into a film, the plot seems to be a remake of the 1933 English film "Song of the Plough" - both revolve around a farmer facing financial ruin being saved by winning at sheepdog trials.

Great to see @nzonscreen producing a film about sheepdogs in NZ, but the real question is whether a Huntaway or Heading dog will be the star...

Sad times. Today’s final final kilometre @letour for @itvcycling. Many thanks to the team esp @mrendell Gary Imlach & @nedboulting for the last 20yrs and @Channel4 before. July won’t be the same again 😢#TDF2025

@mrendell @cycling_podcast

Less dramatic than extreme weather events that have disrupted @letour, LSD is another example of the impact of climate change on @letour. Like other vector bourne viruses (eg bluetongue) LSD is spread by midges that can now survive in new places

As LSD is not zoonotic, there's no wider human health risk. But expect prices of yout favourite alpine cheeses to be more expensive

Its interesting that @letour have justified changing the route to avoid 'farmer distress'. In reality, taking the tour and its entourage through the infected area would be the best way to spread it further.

Managing disease outbreaks like this, just like with FMD and TB, is associated with farmer distress, and impacts to emotional wellbeing. Farmers in the affected area are therefore asking for 'help, not a massacre' https://t.co/5karGtvcOD

Traditional stamping out methods (slaughtering whole herds) to eliminate the virus have not gone well with farmers, some of whom have refused to do it