DAILY MANAGEMENT OF LAMBS AND TEGS. 141 



together as pulled, except that if they are to be stored for some 

 time before being used the tops are cut off. The shepherd should 

 clean these, cut them, and feed 200 sheep per day. In addition 

 he should move and reset the hurdles as wanted, fetch the cake, 

 corn, chaff, and hay, keep the sheep's feet sound, remove boulders 

 of dirt from their bodies, and keep them clean behind. It is also 

 expected of him that he will dig out the patches of couch or twitch 

 in front of the sheep. When no cutting is done he should be able 

 to shepherd 400 sheep. Unless the shepherd has sufficient hurdles 

 his work is very much cramped, as he may not be able to leave 

 a proper fall-back, or he may not have sufficient to make a fresh 

 pen before breaking up the old one. 



One of the shepherd's chief troubles is to keep the sheep within 

 bounds. On open plains and heath he relies very much on his dog 

 during the day, bringing the sheep to the fold at night. On moun- 

 tains, where the range is extensive, they roam very much at will, 

 being overlooked in a general way, but shepherding as understood 

 in enclosed districts is little followed. Almost all kinds of fencing 

 are used to keep them in check, hurdles, either wattled or slatted, 

 being most commonly used for close folding on roots, where by their 

 close confinement they are most likely to exert themselves with the 

 view of getting out. Wire-netting and string-netting, although 

 used for close folding, are more suitable for dividing fields and other 

 large areas ; nevertheless, in districts where hurdles are difficult 

 to obtain, they are of great service. Wattled hurdles are specially 

 useful in exposed situations, as they break the force of the wind, 

 and afford some shelter from the sun in hot weather. Sheep 

 are liable to lie too much under them, and thus make an uneven 

 manuring. Sheep are bad friends to growing hedges, as they eat 

 the young shoots at the bottom, and thus weaken them in their 

 most important part. , 



Hay is often fed to sheep through hurdles. This puts an extra 

 strain on the hurdles, and is wasteful of hay. Hay-racks should be 

 used. The simplest are those used in Wilts and Hants ; they 

 consist of a narrow longitudinal frame into which spars are fixed 

 from side to side so as to give a trough-like appearance. These 

 are filled with hay, and then turned over on the flat side, when all 

 the hay is eaten without a portion being trampled into the soil. 

 Heavy racks are inconvenient to move in the field, whilst these 

 are easy to move and simple to mend. Wooden troughs are prefer- 

 able to iron on account of the weight, whilst zinc and other metal 

 troughs soon become battered in the rough usage they get. The 

 simplest form is the ordinary pig trough or V-shape, though those 

 made with a bottom board are most capacious, and are better suited 

 for containing chaff and corn as well as roots. An advantage of 

 metal troughs made with semicircular bottoms is that they are 



