Farmers will be encouraged to sign up their interests in sheep dog trialling at the National Sheep Association northern region's biennial one day event, North Sheep 2005 to be staged on Wednesday 1 June at Whinfell Park, near Penrith.

"We will be staging a recruitment drive for more farmer enthusiasts to get involved," says the International Sheep Dog Society's Derek Scrimgeour. "We've noticed a decline in participants for various reasons since FMD and we feel the time has come to do some promotion work.

"Sheep dog trialling is not a hobby but a management tool to help improve working sheep dog's efficiency," he explains "Trialling will help all working sheep farmers locate quality working dogs and provide information on how to train them." He adds: "We are also searching for more host farms throughout the UK on which to stage trials."

North Sheep is staging an open trial for 30 entrants with the finalists earning qualifying points towards the English National. The North Sheep trial will be judged by BBC TV's One Man and His Dog presenter, Gus Dermody.