He meets her terse explanation with a bewildered smile and watches her petulance fight her instinct to return the gesture. He is relieved when it loses the battle. ‘It’s a disease. There’s a mite that lives in the skin and lays eggs. It causes irritation, makes the sheep itch, so they rub themselves against anything they can. Eventually, they rub away their coats, create sores, and the skin scabs up. It’s horrible – they spread it to one another, it can devastate a flock. So, we try and make sure that they’re not harbouring any insects before the autumn – the mites tend to lay eggs when the sheep are in their full fleeces.’

Back at the tub, Gwen measures out the disinfectant. She leaves Jack to swirl it through the water, while she checks the gated run that connects the holding pen to the dipping tub and then the field beyond. It is not long before they hear the sheep bleating in the distance and Kip’s excited barks. They stand by, their overalls tied tight with string around their waists, their sleeves rolled above their elbows.

‘Here they come.’

Jim drives the sheep up the yard. Kip skirts behind those lagging at the back, sweeping left to right, rounding them together, funnelling them between the barn and the stable block and into the pen in the field beyond. Jim swings the gate shut as the last ewe pushes into the huddled flock.

‘Ready?’ he calls.

Gwen gestures for Jack to stand beside her at the tub. ‘Push them right under, any way you can. You must douse them fully. Just do as I do,’ she instructs as Jim begins to open the gates, urging the first sheep through, the next one following, until they are trotting down the narrow run in single file, bottlenecking at the final gate, just above the dipping tub.

‘A firm hand is what’s required, Jack,’ Jim shouts, as he climbs up onto the bottom rail of the run to release the last gate.

The first sheep barrels towards Gwen. She grabs two fistfuls of fleece and unceremoniously pitches it into the water, pushing it down until it is completely submerged before hauling it up to the surface again, water sloshing against the sides of the tub, splashing her overall and even her cheeks. She thrusts the animal towards Jack.