The hatches are well and truly battened down as I write this on Friday afternoon.

Storm Amy appears to be every bit as ferocious as the forecasters promised and I’m very grateful of an inside job as I listen to the wind and rain battering off the window.

There seems to be a bad breakout of 'Tup Fever' in the house this week.

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This is an annual ailment that occurs in the days leading up to the tup (ram) sales, causing the stress levels to be slightly higher than normal.

Advisable courses of action in dealing with loved ones suffering from this unfortunate affliction are firstly, avoiding asking questions unless you are faced with a true life or death situation and secondly, making absolutely sure you hear orders first time round. Ignore these words of advice at your own peril.

10km race

Alternatively, running away for a few hours is also advisable, which is exactly what I did last Sunday when I ran the Moorlough 10km race.

By actively choosing to run a steep 10km race on a Sunday morning, it will tell you exactly how good the stress levels were.

Nonetheless, I surprisingly managed to be the second female home so I had a spring in my step (I use the term loosely as, in actual fact, I was crippled) as we continued preparing sale sheep once I returned home.

Ballymena sale

All joking aside, tup (ram) sales are upon us. The first stop being Ballymena Blackface Ram Sale on Monday.

It’s hard to have sheep looking at their best for the sale when their routine has been so drastically changed by a storm.

Our rams, up to now, have never spent more than very short periods of time in a shed but, as of yesterday, we are forced to keep them inside - leaving them standing out in this storm would have their coloured coats looking similar to a patchwork quilt. We can only hope it doesn’t affect them too drastically.

We have a selection of ram lambs and shearlings headed for sales and will keep our fingers crossed for a good trade.

There is so much pressure placed on the sale of rams within pedigree sheep breeding.

For us, and I’m sure for other breeders, they really are our bread and butter and the success of the sale directly determines how good a financial year the farm has.

We were delighted with how the ewes and gimmers sold on Tuesday night with a 100% clearance for 145 sold, so we can only hope the rams follow suit.