The old-time shepherd - lamb in one hand, crook in the other - is an emblem of sturdiness, dependability and independence.

He was one of the most important men on the farm, responsible for the care and well-being of the flock, with which he might need to spend days and nights out in open pastures. How did he manage his charges and his own life? What skills and equipment did he use? How did sheep farming change in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and what effect did those changes have on the shepherd's work?

These are some of the questions considered by this fully illustrated exploration of shepherding life.