NEW STYLE SHEEP HERDING 



A S a result of experiments during 

 / Y the past few years, the Depart- 

 \ ment of Agriculture is now ad- 

 vocating the use of the bedding- 

 out system of herding sheep on open 

 ranges, instead of the old close-herding 

 system which has heretofore been in 

 use. 



This system gets its name from the 

 fact that the herder who attends the 

 band camps and beds his flocks 

 wherever the sheep find themselves at 

 nightfall. Under the old plan he estab- 

 lished a fixed camp and bed-ground 

 and drove the sheep back to the same 

 place each night. 



Through experience on the national 

 forest ranges last year the Department 

 states that lambs from bedded-out bands 

 were five pounds heavier on an average 

 at the end of the season than those 

 which were trailed to and from estab- 

 lished bed-grounds, and that the range 

 can carry from 10 to 25 per cent more 

 sheep than when so much is trampled 

 out in traveling back and forth. The 

 disadvantages of the old system, ac- 

 cording to the Department, were two- 

 fold, those to the forage and those to 

 the sheep. The forage suffered by 

 being trampled badly, and being actu- 

 ally destroyed at and near the bed- 

 grounds ; the sheep lost weight in 

 going to and from the camps, and in 



dry weather suffered not a little from 

 dust and from crowding. 



Moreover, under the old system the 

 sheep were kept pretty well bunched ; 

 under the new plan they graze at will 

 in scattered, open flocks. During the 

 day the herder moves about in a wide 

 circuit around his charges, looking for 

 tracks to see that none of the sheep has 

 strayed beyond his circle. The sheep 

 are constantly moving through new 

 feed instead of traveling over areas 

 already fed over. 



Sheepmen have maintained that the 

 close-herding system so long in use was 

 necessary to prevent losses from stray- 

 ing, and from the ravages of animals, 

 such as wolves, coyotes, and mountain 

 lions. The experiments of the Service 

 show that straying can be prevented, 

 and one band on the Payette forest, 

 Idaho, which never bedded two nights 

 in the same place, and which grazed in 

 timber and brush practically the entire 

 summer, lost only four head ; in this, as 

 in the majority of cases, the loss under 

 the new system was less than under 

 the old one of close herding. 



The forest rangers and trained hunt- 

 ers of the service cooperate with the 

 herdsmen to rid the ranges of preda- 

 tory animals, and to render the danger 

 of loss from this source less than it was 

 formerly. 



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