I drove up into the foot hills of County Wicklow just outside Baltinglass to a lovely farm where they milk a beautiful breed of cattle from France called Montbéliard. They originated in the Haute Saône-Doubs region of France. They are a dairy and meat breed much like the Zwartbles sheep is.
They had a small flock of Zwartbles who were very cheeky while I was there stealing food from the goats. The goat was very polite and stood posing beautifully for my camera while the Zwartbles snuck in to steal her cabbage.
I really enjoyed meeting the cattle as well as their owners and feel I over stayed my welcome chatting in their kitchen over a mug of tea for way to long about cattle breeding, Zwartbles sheep and farming.
So the next stage is set for the beginning of the cleaning of all those Zwartbles Fleeces I have collected from all across the country over the last few months.