344 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



provided a run to a rye-field, or to some grass pasture 

 that will not be afterwards used that summer, to help 

 stimulate the milk flow. By May 15 probably the grass 

 will be so forward that the flock may be turned out for 

 good. Now begins the new management. 



Instead of turning the flock to a large pasture to 

 roam over it at will turn them on a very small part of 

 it. How best to manage this will depend on circum- 

 stances. I think that in our land of small supply of 

 labor and much hurry and turmoil during the summer 

 season it is safest to divide the pastures by permanent 

 wire fences. These are not costly, and need not be very 

 high. We will, then, turn the whole flock together into 

 the first division; none shall be scattered about. Of 

 course there may be two flocks, one with lambs and a 

 dry flock, but the dry flock had better be put apart 

 somewhere or else put with the ewes. It will not do to 

 let anything interfere with the regular rotation of these 

 pastures. Now once in this pasture the flock will be al- 

 lowed to eat it down close to the ground. That will not 

 hurt the grass, for all will go in a short time and the 

 grass may spring up again. This is how pastures are 

 often managed in England by hurdles. 



Dr. Ransom says that sheep may probably be safely 

 left on May pasture for two weeks. We will shorten 

 this time to 10 days, to make sure. That is, the germs 

 falling to the earth could not before 10 days find their 

 way back into any sheep or lamb, and we are going to 

 move the flock on before they are able to get in. Now 

 in the division between this pasture and the next we will 

 place creeps so fixed that the lambs can readily pass 



