SHEEP RAISED ON A NATIONAL FOREST. 



DRIFT FENCES FOR STOCK 



IN order to control the movements 

 of sheep and cattle grazed under 

 permits on the national forests, the 

 Government is constructing what 

 are known as drift fences which facili- 

 tate the counting and handling of the 

 animals. These fences also help to reg- 

 ulate the time when stock may enter 

 the forests, so that sheep and cattle can 

 be kept off in the early spring until the 

 young grass and other forage plants 

 have had a chance to get a start. In 

 some cases, too, they restrict grazing to 

 certain areas and serve either to protect 

 some grazing grounds or to secure a 

 complete utilization of the forage on 

 others. 



The drift fences are not enclosures 

 but generally extend for long distances 

 across the country, much like the "drift 

 fences," or snow fences along railroad 

 rights of way. The railroad fences, 

 however, take their name from the fact 

 that they serve to pile the wind-blown 

 snow to the windward side of the track, 

 so it will not settle in the cuts and im- 

 pede traffic. The drift fences for stock 

 keep the animals from going in certain 

 directions, or "drifting," to use a cattle- 



man's expression, or restrict them to 

 specified areas for the winter and to 

 others for the summer. They may also 

 prevent stock from grazing upon areas 

 where poisonous plants are found; thus 

 they lessen the cost of herding and pre- 

 vent losses. 



Examples of the use of drift fences 

 are furnished in several built on the 

 Dixie forest of Utah, where stock graz- 

 ing is important. Five miles of drift 

 fences were built by the Government on 

 this forest to protect the water supply 

 of the city of St. George from contami- 

 nation by forest range cattle. This, 

 with other stretches of substantial wire 

 fence in connection with rocky ledges, 

 which are equally good barriers against 

 stock, makes the southern boundary of 

 one of the divisions of this forest stock 

 proof, except at certain established 

 gateways. During the coming year 

 sixteen miles of fence is to be built 

 across the northern part of this division. 

 This will distinctly separate the north- 

 ern range from that to the south, which 

 is on an average some 3,000 feet higher 

 and will be used exclusively as summer 

 range. By keeping the stock on the 



