They won in the end when America's sheep industry shrank dramatically after the second world war.

ECONOMIST: American festivals

As the reputation of Basque sheep herders grew, an infrastructure of boarding houses quickly sprang up to direct immigrant Basques into the burgeoning American sheep industry despite the antipathy of the cattle ranchers who wanted the land for themselves.

ECONOMIST: American festivals: Basques abound | The

Thanks to revenues from fishing licences, Falklanders are no longer poor folk dependent on a dying sheep-farming industry.

ECONOMIST: Wary partners in the South Atlantic

The head of the National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS) has welcomed the political support given to industry concerns over electronic sheep tagging.

BBC: Farmers union welcomes sheep tagging support

Cost-effective electronic identification and traceability of sheep must be developed and delivered to the industry as a matter of urgency.

BBC: At a glance: NFU disease report

Mr Rowbottom said he left dairy farming 15 months ago, partly due to the state of the industry, but still runs an agricultural feed business alongside a sheep farm at Ipstones.

BBC: Cows at NEC show