CHAPTER IX. 

 RANGE STOCK MANAGEMENT. 



The Government rules for handling stock on the 

 National Forests require sheep and goat herds to be 

 moved frequently and not bedded down in one place 

 more than six successive nights. Nor is a lazy herder 

 allowed to dodge the spirit of the rule by moving off 

 the bed ground for a single night and then going 

 back to it again. The wisdom of this regulation is 

 so apparent that it is hard to see why there can be 

 any possible objection to it. 



Objections to Repeated Use of Bed Ground. The 

 wear and tear on a range when sheep come into the 

 same bed ground night after night is great, and also 

 the sheep undoubtedly suffer from having to travel back 

 and forth every day across a stretch of range which 

 has been picked over again and again until the very 

 grass roots are torn out. Many losses from poisoning 

 result from this cause, as the sheep leave the bed 

 ground in the morning hungry and eat injurious weeds 

 and forage plants which they would not touch if there 

 were anything else available. 



Progressive sheepmen who own or lease large areas 

 of grazing lands will not allow a herder to bed his sheep 

 twice successively on the same spot, but have him seek 

 a new location each night and if possible not less than 



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