1905.] SHEEP. 45 



about that as a orood thing to use, but, on the whole, it is about 

 the only thing that he can depend upon nowadays. There is a 

 little trick in fencing against sheep that I would like to explain 

 to you. I never have been able to account for it, but I know 

 it is true. A sheep will sometimes work its way through a 

 barbed wire fence, however thick it is, and especially lambs will, 

 if it is rigid, but if it gives a little to pressure when the sheep 

 rubs against it he will not touch it. So where your lands will 

 admit of it, put your posts fifty feet apart, or even more, as far 

 as you can. Treat your fences liberally with a lot of staples. 

 You must use about eight wires. I use nine. It is better to 

 have the wires set rather thickly, in order to feel that you have 

 got your sheep and lambs all in your pasture, but use just as 

 good fence posts as you possibly can. It will, of course, help 

 to diminish the cost, and will hold the sheep better than where 

 you erect a rigid fence. 



The question of shelter is exceedingly important. An open 

 shed, one that opens to the southeast or south, or in some locali- 

 ties even to the east, is, of course, an ideal place for sheep. 

 But I would prefer a good tight board fence, that is constructed 

 high enough to give them shelter when they need it. That 

 will carry them through the winter better than any barn cellar, 

 for, as I said before, it is highly essential that the flock should 

 have plenty of air. Anything that will break the wind is 

 enough. Now, a sheep is more susceptible to draughts than 

 any other animal. No animal will take cold quicker than a 

 sheep will, nor will any other animal stand as much weather, 

 but they must have a dry place in which to live. Sheep will 

 not thrive if you keep them in a low, damp place. They want 

 a dry, airy place. I have given no attention to getting my 

 sheep under cover for the last eighteen years. They run, sub- 

 stantially, over the same place in the winter that they do in the 

 summer. Some of you may not agree to that, but it is no new 

 way, and I think experience shows it is the right way. So the 

 question of buildings on this farm that our young man starts 

 off on is of small moment. They need not cost much. A 

 thatched roof is all right for the open shed. An ideal roof 

 is the thatched roof. It is all that is necessary. Anything 

 that will break the wind from the northwest, and also some 

 sort of winds from the south. There are two or three days 

 sometimes when the flock should be protected from the south ; 



