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TORRE FARM
Worksheets 6-8
Audio Cassette References:
- Robert Clatworthy
- Richmond Harding
- Tony Wright
- Tom Rook
Video Cassette References:
- Sequence 1
- Sequence 2
- Sequence 19
Teacher Notes - Torre Farm
Sheep in hill and mountainous areas live on large expanses of moorland. There are no fences to keep them in any particular area since fencing is impractical because of stony soils and winter storms.Each farmer must be able to identify his own sheep.
Although sheep can be identified by their natural markings, these are not sufficient when a farmer needs to be able to prove that the sheep belong to him.
There are three traditional methods used for marking sheep so that they can be identified: ear, horn and fleece marks.
The ear mark is made on a lamb's ear soon after birth and because the ear is thin and fine, causes little discomfort. Eartags are convenient but a small proportion of them are torn out (see Work sheet 7).
The horn mark is made by branding the horn with the initials of the owner.This is completely painless as there are no nerves in the outer horn. Horns occasionally break off, but this seldom occurs before old age.
A sheep may have as many as three different fleece marks to identify the flock, the particular heft and its mate. These marks fade with time and are scoured out when the wool is processed.Red, blue, green and black are the favourite colours for marking. Tar marks are now banned by 'The British Wool Marketing Board' as the tar is impossible to scour out.
Ewes have a gestation period of around 150 days. To ensure that the farmer can feed the ewe appropriately during the pregnancy and know approximately when it will lamb, he needs to know when it was covered by the ram. To give him this information, he fits his rams with a harness known as a 'raddle'. The raddle has a marker block attached to it which leaves a coloured mark on the rump of the ewe when it is mated. By changing the colour of the marker blocks on a weekly basis, the farmer can tell which week a ewe was covered.
Nowadays, farmers can also have their sheep scanned with a portable ultrasound machine.The scan will tell him not only the date when the ewe should lamb, but also whether she is likely to have a multiple birth, thus enabling him to increase the feed for those carrying more than one lamb.
Drawing Activities
The development of drawing as a form of recording, investigating, communicating and expressing has a key role in the National Curriculum in both art and design and technology.
Drawing involves observing patterns of light and shade and translating what you see into lines and marks on a sheet of paper. It is important to observe shape and proportions and how the areas of dark and light fit together.
It is always amazing how may different linear and tonal qualities are possible by using just a graphite pencil.
The pencil can make broad, fine, dark and faint lines.By drawing lines close together you can build up areas of shading or achieve different effects with cross hatching.It is possible to express a range of 'tone' with a pencil. 'Tone' is the term used for the degree of lightness or darkness of a particular colour.In a pencil drawing the tonal range will be from white, through varying shades of grey, to black. It is a good idea to allow the children to practice depicting tones by means of shading with pencils of different grades, if possible.
Textural effects made with pencil vary with the technique used, the grade of pencil and the texture of paper.
Animals make fascinating and challenging subjects for drawing but they cannot keep still to order! Using the photographs of the sheep's head (see photo pack) is one way of maintaining a set position.
Tell the children to make up their mind which quality best sums up what they wish to depict: shape, furriness, etc. so that their lines and marks will express the characteristic they wish to achieve.