When sheep are presented for show or sale, depending on the shepherd, varying degrees of time spent is on trimming and plucking, dipping and titivating.

The orange sheep that featured in the picture alongside my offering last month are almost certainly no more than fashion victims - the orange yellow colouring is generally favoured by Blackface breeders of southwest Scotland, who traditionally coloured their rams this vivid hue and many have adopted this as a means of enhancing the appearance of their animals.

I suspect that this practice is similar to one traditionally used in the Lake District with the Herdwick breed where rams were coloured red (redded) and as far as I can remember, this goes back in history to the old time shepherds who used this method so that they could identify their rams in a flock of ewes from a distance across the fells - making them easy to pick out due to their bright colour.

Preparing sheep for show or sale is about presenting an animal in the best possible way, taking into consideration breed points and traditions, drawing attention to the good points and wherever possible minimising the bad points; it is, without doubt an art and fashions come and go.

Years ago Masham and mule gimmer lambs were adorned with strands of brightly coloured wool to identify the different lots destined for sale.

I can remember as a child helping tie these short brightly coloured lengths of wool (usually red) onto our Masham gimmer lambs.

The top pen had them tied to their toppings so that they hung down their black and white faces, the next pen had the wool at the back of their heads, the next in the shoulder and so on.

This practice was widespread, and continued for several years until the British Wool Marketing Board had to intervene. These adornments were often not wool, but synthetic and the fibres got entangled and lost in the fleece where they remained throughout the shearing and manufacturing process, appearing as coloured flecks in lengths of finished cloth, rendering them worthless. Marking paint or spray is now used as an alternative.

This leads me nicely on the subject of wool and its value; we have just received our wool cheque and what a pitiful amount it is.

I have dug out as a comparison some wool purchase advice notes for 1918, 1941, 1963 and 1972 - In 2006 we are paid an average of 21p per kg for our wool our cheque, less deductions (haulage etc) for over 850 sheep is £145.

In 1918 Anthony and Lodge Hird of Yockenthwaite were paid £142 9s 10d, in 1941 their cheque was £107-6s-3d and on the advice note was a scribbled message "I notice you have less wool than usual. Have you sent it all on? Trust you are keeping well. J A Denby." (Highly unlikely to get a note like this in the 21st century).

In 1963 Thomas and Anthony Hird received £374.6s.0d and in October 1972 the payment was £507.30.

Centuries ago fortunes were built on wool produced from sheep in the hills, Skipton itself (Sheep Town) was an important wool trading centre and the arrival of the Leeds Liverpool canal brought industrial growth with cloth making a major activity.

Today it seems it is just a throw away product.

Best wishes to all for Christmas and the New Year.