As a shepherd, I know we have not ‘sheepwrecked’ Britain’s landscape | Annie Meanwell

Environmentalists are wrong to say that excess sheep are ruining the Lake District. Generations of families like mine have worked to maintain a delicate ecosystem

My family have been farming in Cumbria for at least 500 years. I stayed on my uncle's hill farm in the school holidays as a child, helping out with lambing time and feeding the calves. Six years ago my husband and I bought a small hill farm in the Rusland Valley, a quiet area of the Lake District between Coniston Water and Windermere, and it is from here that I now breed rough fell sheep, a breed native to Cumbria, along with fell ponies and dexter cattle, and some rare breed sheep such as North Ronaldsay, Ouesssant and Hebridean.

The work I do on the farm depends upon the season, but every day I walk around all of my animals to check they are doing well. My son and I are building up a flock of rough fell sheep, one we can show with pride at agricultural shows, and produce high-quality stock that we can sell for breeding. My son's involvement is crucial, as breeding such a flock is more than a one-generation project. In the past six years we haven't been able to pay ourselves any wages, but have covered our animal costs. If the price of lamb doesn't pick up this year, we are unlikely to make enough money to pay for feed and medication for our ewes over the winter.