OFFICERS from the Eden and Brampton neighbourhood policing teams are urging farmers to be vigilant and increase security as rural theft tends to rise during the spring.

NOW in its eighth year, Woolfest looks set to beat even last year’s records as an extension to its venue at Cockermouth will allow the event to expand to incorporate more than 160 stalls and provide a better showcase for fleece-bearing animals.

SUPERB STITCHWORK: Susan Crawford at Woolfest with her vintage knitting designs. Her work is part of the WOW exhibition at Rheged, near Penrith.

AROUND 150 members from seven of Cumbria’s young farmers’ clubs competed in the district eliminators of their pantomime competition, with the top five going on to perform at the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, in front of judges Hirelle Macleod and Peter Brown in an attempt to win the coveted NFU Trophy.

WHAT police described as 40 “metal sheep pen gates”, with a total value of £3,200, were stolen from an isolated field near Shap.

All classes met a similar trade to that of previous weeks, with a full ringside of 10 buyers in attendance, when Harrison and Hetherington held their weekly sheep sale at Kirkby Stephen on Tuesday. There was an entry of 1,511 prime sheep.

Mr. Tufnell meets NSA northern region members Adam Watson, Brampton, and Eddie Eastham, Penrith, together with NSA chief executive Phil Stocker and NSA chairman John Geldard.

PRACTICAL implementation of changes to livestock movement rules, including the six-day standstill, was called for by the National Sheep Association in Cumbria at its first official meeting with the Government’s new Animal Health and Welfare Board.

Whinfellpark farm manager Iain Scott (left) receives the record priced bull from stockman Gerwyn Jones and breeder Glyn Vaughan.

CLIFTON-based businessman and cattle breeder Allan Jenkinson paid a new world record price for a Limousin bull of £126,000 at the breed society’s February sale held at Harrison and Hetherington’s Borderway mart, Carlisle, on Saturday.

WHAT police described as 40 “metal sheep pen gates”, with a total value of £3,200, were stolen from an isolated field near Shap.

All classes met a similar trade to that of previous weeks, with a full ringside of 10 buyers in attendance, when Harrison and Hetherington held their weekly sheep sale at Kirkby Stephen on Tuesday. There was an entry of 1,511 prime sheep.