140 BRITISH SHEEP AND SHEPHERDING. 



probability, will be stormbroken, or at any rate, produce corn 

 which will cause the sample of grain to be uneven. The folds 

 should, therefore, be set regularly, and similar quantities of food 

 be fed in each. 



The tegs which are shorn in summer time should be shorn in 

 time to allow the fleece to grow again before winter, or they will 

 not do well, as the wet will go through to the skin. Under natural 

 conditions the wool rarely gets wet down to the skin, as it lies 

 in a manner which conducts the rain outwards. If this wool 

 is very short in winter the water runs straight through it, and 

 the sheep, being chilled, cannot thrive. Ewe tegs which are not 

 to be sold fat, but are to go into the flock, are not often shorn. 

 Shepherding is easier in summer when tegs are shorn, as fly are 

 easily detected, and clagging (trimming off foul and dirty locks) 

 is not necessary. With few exceptions, shearing is a mistake 

 where the young sheep are to be kept through winter, though 

 those which will be killed before December often benefit by it. 

 When once the natural thatch of wool is destroyed by shearing, 

 water runs into the wool instead of off it, with the consequence 

 that in rainy winters the skin, and therefore the body, is con- 

 stantly wet, and the sheep exist in a state of chill. 



In Autumn. In autumn, when the sheep come on to the roots, 

 the system of shepherding alters, as there is more close folding. 

 During the day the sheep may have a run on the stubbles and 

 young seeds, or grass, but at night they preferably go on to cabbages, 

 rape, or white turnips. The folds should be made sufficiently 

 large for one day's feeding, but a fair amount of room should be 

 left for them to fall back upon, as in wet weather the pens get 

 muddy, and on most land afford bad lair ; the food also gets muddy. 

 It may be taken as sound practice in autumn and winter shepherding 

 that a good large fall-back is necessary, and that in summer it 

 is advisable. During the early part of autumn the turnip cutter 

 is not required, as the food is soft ; but later on, when the swedes 

 are used, it is undoubtedly an advantage to cut the roots. The 

 extra expense of cutting involves the necessity of getting up the 

 swedes and cleaning them ; however, the whole of the crop is 

 eaten, and the sheep thrive far better. Against this the cutting 

 is saved ; but a portion of the turnip has to be pecked up or it 

 is lost. It at any rate gets dirty, and even ewes are damaged, 

 as gnawing causes the teeth to get broken before they would other- 

 wise be. A shepherd should be able to attend to 200 fattening 

 sheep, close folded, all roots being sliced by him, if the turnips 

 are got up into heaps made a chain square apart. There are thus ten 

 heaps on an acre, each heap containing two tons. Allowing 1 cwt. 

 per sheep per week, a heap would carry 280 sheep one day ; or 

 200 bigger sheep eating 22 Ib. per day. The turnips are thrown 



