Photo of the Week: Best foot forward through the fog

This week’s photo of the week was taken by Martine Arrowsmith at the family’s tenant farm in Poyws.

It shows husband Neil shepherding their Texel lambs through the thick fog to their root field along with young terrier, Eddie, bringing up the rear.

The photo captures the tough beauty of the land on what Martine says was a “very cold and dank day”.

She says: “For us it evokes that this winter will be long due to the effects that the drought in the summer has had on us”.

See also: Photo of the Week: Mollie the heifer smiling in the snow

© Martine Arrowsmith

Despite the difficulties that lie ahead, they are reluctant to sell any stock and Martine says that husband Neil will “do his best to look after them, and as the photo shows [where] he leads, they follow”.

The farm sits around 24om above sea level and Martine says that when there’s no thick fog they have a panoramic view from the Black Mountains to the Brecon Beacons.

Sadly, the Powys County Council Farm is to be sold off when the couple’s tenancy comes to an end, after having farmed there for 23 years.

The couple run 250 Texel cross ewes, 50 pedigree Texel ewes and a handful of Limousin cross cows with calves at foot.

The cows and calves will have to be sold next summer and the sheep flock reduced by half because of the end of the tenancy.

Admirably, Martine says they are forever optimistic and they hope to find land just as special to them, where they can increase stock numbers again.

Neil is also an agricultural contractor and Martine works at a local farmers’ co-operative and is also a mentor/tutor with Farming Connect in Wales supporting farmers to improve their IT skills to manage their farms.

Their daughter Libby works on another farm managing livestock and son Ieuan is currently completing his second year at Hartpury studying agricultural mechanics. 

Dog Eddie is six years old and Martine says the laidback terrier thinks he’s a sheepdog!

We have a feeling a good family won’t be kept down.

If you’d like to send your weather or farming-related photos, you can upload your photos to the Farmlife Framed photo gallery.

Our Christmas gallery is also open – with partner Thatchers offering prizes.