Rebekah Housden: Rain and autumn brings invasion of midges

September brings back the familiar daily rain to our small oasis in North Cumbria, signalling an imminent breeding season for the sheep.

Travelling to the other end of the county recently to privately purchase some shearling tups gave a glimpse of just how burned off so many other places are.

See also: Rebekah Housden – there’s no shame in being a part-time farmer

About the author

Rebekah Housden

Rebekah Housden is based at Roadhead in Cumbria, and has worked on a farm with 600 ewes for 11 years. She also shares a smallholding of 90 ewes. She is a first-responder, a parish clerk, runs a community bar and caters for rural weddings. 

Read more articles by Rebekah Housden

The heat is baked into the ground, but it didn’t take much precipitation before a new problem started to raise its head.

Midges are no new beast to contend with, as this area is usually so damp, with plenty of trees planted and far enough from the coast that the wind doesn’t bother them terribly.

Many mornings tagging lambs for auction are tainted with bites and scratching like a dog with fleas. And many evenings in the hay field, by the barbecue or trying to enjoy socialising on a fine evening are quickly abandoned as the black cloud of midges descends.

It is said in certain parts of Bewcastle, they can even open the letterbox!

At the breeding sales the background chat is quickly turning to bluetongue. Last year this was a problem that was “down south”, but now cases have popped up with alarming speed in south-west Scotland and around Carlisle.

Far too close to home to be ignored, a serious threat with the sudden increase of midges.

Nobody seems to know the answer about whether or not to vaccinate.

But having recently had an episode of sudden unexplained deaths in one flock of sheep (CCN, after postmortems – not something we have ever had on the farm before nor with a traceable reason), the feeling of powerlessness is still a fresh memory.

Each morning finding another sheep which deteriorated within a few hours no matter what treatment was given.

I can’t consider going through a similar process with something that I could have done something to prevent.

So with vaccine, ear tag reader, pen and scrap of paper in hand along with the best will in the world, I take the leap to try to protect the flocks I’ve shepherded from what could be carried by those pesky biting meedgies.