SHEEP 381 



lested, will move about very little, but variations and exceptions will 

 occur in each case. 



Usually, small bunches move a shorter distance than larger 

 bunches. A small bunch in some instances would graze for two or 

 three days within a radius of one-fourth mile. The larger bunches 

 would do this only when they were on a meadow area where there 

 was abundance of attractive flowering plants and clover. The shorter 

 the distance traveled, the less energy is expended, but the distance 

 covered in a day is not in itself a measure of the forage destroyed 

 by trampling or needlessly wasted as energy. A large band of sheep 

 will destroy more forage by coming together on the run, when scat- 

 tered over 100 acres of ground, than they will by quietly grazing 

 in one direction, well spread out, all day, even though they travel 2 

 miles. In the former case, twenty hoofs may strike the same plant, 

 and each hoof act as a cutting edge. When they are quietly graz- 

 ing, well spread out, few hoofs, perhaps only one, will strike a plant, 

 and the impression of the foot is almost imperceptible. The ground 

 is not packed, nor the seedlings uprooted, as by the massing. 



There were times when the pastured sheep did more trailing than 

 was desirable. During the first month the scab glades were covered 

 with a luxuriant growth of succulent flowering plants, and while 

 they lasted the sheep would eat nothing else. They would sweep 

 across a small glade area, nipping off the flowers and choice leaves, 

 then trail over an area of yellow pine land to reach the next glade. 

 As a result considerable pine grass and clover was beaten down and 

 left to wilt. To some extent this damage could be eliminated if a 

 tender had been present to check the leaders in their rapid march 

 from one glade to another. Aside from this feature there was oc- 

 casional trailing from the bed ground in the morning and to it at 

 night. On the whole, however, comparatively little forage was de- 

 stroyed by trampling. 



Bedding. The number of bunches in which the sheep bedded 

 varied from 1 to 5 ; that the number of bunches bedded increased as 

 the season advanced ; that the number of bunches bedded, as a rule, 

 was less than the number during the day ; that the number of beds 

 used, old and new, for a given period, increased as the season ad- 

 vanced; and that during the ninety-nine days of test, 77 different 

 beds were used. 



During the first month the tendency of the sheep to assemble for 

 the night was very marked, but gradually decreased until it was 

 almost negligible at the close of the season. During the first two 

 weeks of test the band was separated at night only twice, while 

 during the entire month of August they were together at night only 

 three times. In the last two weeks of record they bedded in one 

 band five times, but during this period they were grazing an area 

 with few natural bed grounds and with barriers of dense timber that 

 the sheep would not readily pass through during the cold weather 

 of late September. Naturally, they came together at night on the 

 few suitable bedding places. _Pvjring the first week of test 4 beds 



