CHAPTER XXIV. 



MANAGEMENT OF A HILL FLOCK or BLACK-FACED SCOTCH SHEEP. 



I am indebted to Mr. Anderson, late of Longformacus, for the 

 following description of management, he having kindly supplied 

 me wiih the results of his experience when farming on the 

 Scotch Hills, an experience which has not fallen to my lot. 



We will take for example a typical flock of Black-faces on the 

 Southern Highlands of Scotland, at an elevation of 500 to 1,000 ft. 

 above sea-level. The flock would number 400 ewes, all acclimatised, 

 being bred on the ground and never removed until sold off as draft 

 ewes at five years old. They would be divided in ages thus (that 

 is, if you enter the farm on November 1, after five-year old ewes 

 are sold off) : eighty, four years old, eighty, three years old, eighty, 

 two years old, eighty, one year old, and eighty ewe lambs or hoggs, 

 at six months old. You would require at this time ten rams to 

 turn out on November 15, with a few in reserve to turn out later 

 on if any one failed, and in case the hoggs, or any of them should 

 take the ram. This is prevented by " breeking " them. They are 

 taken to a convenient pen, a square of old sacking about 9 in. 

 square is sewn over their tails on three sides, leaving the bottom 

 open; this keeps off the ram. After the rams have been with- 

 drawn from the hill the hoggs are again taken to pen and the 

 cloth removed. The reason of this procedure is to retain the 

 hoggs on their native grazings, so as not to undo their acclimatisa- 

 tion ; if once taken into a field of better pasture you spoil their 

 hardihood. About this season, the shepherd on his daily rounds 

 gathers the ewes into lots as he may find them, taking care to have 

 at least one ram with each lot of ewes. Some shepherds feed the 

 rams with a few oats carried round with them ; this extra feeding 

 keeps the rams active. A careful shepherd teaches the rams 

 to come up to feed before turning them out, but usually the rams 

 are left with the ewes to help themselves and rough it until the 

 service is over. 



Ewes in Winter. Much depends on the way the rams are reared 

 whether house-wintered or out-wintered. The ewes, after the 

 rams are withdrawn, want little attention during the winter, 

 and should the winter be an open one, they will require nothing 

 but the produce of their grazings. The shepherd, meanwhile, care- 

 fully watches the signs of the weather, and is always ready to take 

 his flock into a shelter when a storm comes on, the shelter being 

 usually a conveniently-placed plantation, or a " stell " built 



