118 ON THE CHEVIOT BREED OF SHEEP. 



left the longer time with the ewes, the number of eild sheep is 

 reduced ; and this the supporters of the old system do not deny, 

 their contention being, that where ewes continue lambing into 

 June, it is after all better to have them eild. The answer to tliis 

 objection, and it is difficult to see that it is not a sufhcient one, 

 is, that when there is a late ewe lamb to sell, as high a figure 

 may be obtained for it as for any lamb sent off the farm, and 

 that even when the lamb is a male it leaves a profit, excepting 

 only when the mother is one of the old ewes. 



In the winter there is often, as farmers have sometimes learned 

 to their cost, considerable difficulty in keeping the stock in satis- 

 factory condition. Should artificial or hand-feeding become 

 necessary, the fodder most in favour and most to be commended 

 is bog hay. The practice of feeding with corn seldom gives 

 satisfaction, as this indulgence generally causes serious deteriora- 

 tion in the habits of the sheep, and even hay should be used 

 only in extreme cases. At no season is the skill of the shepherd 

 of greater importance to his master than at this, — a man who 

 lays out his sheep judiciously, so as to work through the storm 

 without help, almost always finishing better than his neighbour 

 who resorts to hay. 



As lambing approaches, two preparations for this critical season 

 should be made, the udder locking of the gimmers and hoggs,wliich, 

 though not generally practised, is decidedly advantageous, and 

 the drawing out of the leanest and some of the apparently twin- 

 bearing ewes to any enclosure there may be upon the farm. 

 These enclosures or parks the tenant may find of the greatest 

 service, and where the land is suitable, and there are few farms 

 on which some place of the kind cannot be found, it is essential 

 that they should be provided, the proprietor bearing, perhaps, 

 the greater part of the expense. With these parks under rota- 

 tion to work with, the farmer is enabled to supplement his 

 sheep-breeding by grazing a few cattle, these animals, after being 

 housed in winter, taking the place of the ewes on the liills when 

 the latter are drawn into the parks, and being afterwards, in 

 June, before they have had an opportunity of damaging the 

 pastures, brought back to the enclosures which the sheep have 

 just left. Where the land is not suitable for ploughing, farmers 

 might perhaps adopt a practice which is seen in several districts 

 where tlie parks, after being enclosed, are drained and limed, 

 and then grazed with cattle and cropped with hay alternately. 

 With these precautions taken, the farmer has then to wait for 

 the beginning of lambing, which takes place on the 17tli April. 

 It is this period into which the anxieties of the year are in a 

 great measure compressed, and when a good shepherd is again 

 able to prove his value to liis master, his superior skill being 

 often apparent by the way in which, in stormy weather, he uses 



