286 



Summer Management of Sheep. 



Vol. XII. 



or two each day for at least a week previous; 

 and durintr this time let the best of hay, ac- 

 companied withi^rain, be provided. If sheep, 

 however, have been trained to eat roots, and 

 have partaken of them freely through the 

 month of March, the danger accompanying 

 the too sudden transition from hay or other 

 dry food, will in a measure be avoided. 



Notwithstanding the duty of the shepherd 

 may have been faithfully discharged by tak- 

 ing out from time to time such as are failing 

 in flesh during the winter season, and put- 

 ting them to better keep, yet not a few in in- 

 different condition will bo found in large 

 flocks at this period, which had better be 

 separated and treated accordingly. The two 

 classes needing this attention perhaps the 

 most, are generally ewes which have already 

 or are about to yean, and yearlings. What- 

 ever they are, let them be put upon the best 

 pasture the farm will furnish, and a few only 

 together. 



The separation will be quickest performed 

 by adopting the following method : — Let the 

 flock be stationed one or two hundred yards 

 distant from a gateway or bars, and then, if 

 called by the shepherd, moving on a run, the 

 weaker sheep will soon fall to the rear, and 

 when these are about to pass the gateway, 

 let them be cut off" from the others by some 

 one in the vicinity. This mode is sure, and 

 is preferable to pounding the flock, as mis- 

 takes are unavoidably committed by so doing, 

 especially with yearlings, owing to the un- 

 usual length of wool in individual cases, 

 which frequently hides from the shepherd 

 their impoverished condition. 



An important duty devolves upon the flock- 

 master to see that his sheep are regularly 

 and plentifully salted from the time they are 

 turned to pasture till the commencement of 

 the foddering season. 



Fortunately the question, whether salt 

 contributes to the health and thrift of sheep, 

 is, at the present day, no longer mooted, its 

 salutary effects being universally admitted. 

 It operates to stimulate the appetite, and es- 

 sentially aids the disrestive organs in extract- 

 ing the nutriment of food ; and within a few 

 years it has been ascertained that its free use 

 to sheep has mitigated, if not wiiolly pre- 

 vented, in some localities, that terrible 

 scourge to British flocks, the liver-rot. Its 

 security against the attacks of other dan- 

 gerous maladies, further time and observa- 

 tion will doubtless demonstrate. 



In Mr. Youatt's work will be found the 

 followinir remarks on the benefits of salting: 

 — " Passing by the beautiful country of 

 Montpelier and the mouths of the Rhone, 

 the traveller can study the fine sheep and 

 the sheep husbandry of Aries. The district 



of the Crau, in length nearly eighteen miles, 

 and about half as much in breadth, extends 

 from the mountains towards the sea-coast. 

 It is one uniform gentle declivity: in no 

 part of it is there the slightest portion of 

 stagnant water, and not a tree or shrub is 

 to be seen. The so 1 is dry and apparently 

 barren enough, but produces a varied herb- 

 age well adapted to the sheep. Not less 

 than one hundred and thirty thousand sheep 

 graze on this declivity." 



A writer in the Memoirs of the Royal 

 Academy of Sciences at Paris attributes the 

 thriving of the sheep on such a spot to the 

 free use of salt, thereby enabling the diges- 

 tive organs to extract every particle of nu- 

 triment which the food contains. He says, 

 "On this spot, seemingly so sterile, by the 

 free use of salt, more numerous flocks of 

 sheep are bred and reared than upon any 

 other common of equal extent throughout 

 the whole kingdom ; and, what is not less 

 remarkable, the sheep are healthier, hardier, 

 and endure the severity of the winter with 

 less loss, though they have fewer sheep cots 

 for covering, than those fed and bred on more 

 copious pastures, and that have, besides, the 

 advantage of more convenient shelter." 



For a short time after sheep have been 

 turned to pasture, precaution must be ob- 

 served not to salt them too freely, as, in con- 

 junction with the stimulating nature of young 

 grass, scours or purging will follow; and its 

 effects upon ewes shortly before parturition, 

 if allowed access to it without limit, will 

 tend to abortion, as will be found more fully 

 noticed in another chapter. 



If common fine salt (say Salina make) is 

 used, two quarts to the hundred, given about 

 once a week, is a prudent quantity at that 

 time, and may be increased to four quarts 

 after the first of May, for every fourth or 

 fifth day, during the remainder of the pasture 

 season. If coarse salt (St. Ubes) is used, a 

 quarter to one-third less than of fine will be 

 proper, it being of a much stronger quality. 



Salting in troughs would be well enough, 

 provided the sheep could be stationary in one 

 enclosure ; but the necessity of their removal 

 frequently for change of pasture, requires 

 the removal of the troughs also; and the 

 flock-master with several hundred sheep will 

 soon learn that that is quite too troublesome. 

 Again, troughs arc thought by many indis- 

 pensable during the season when the Estris 

 Ovis, or sheep gad-fly, is winging its tor- 

 menting career, for the reception of the tar 

 (upon which salt is sprinkled) as a defence 

 against its attacks. But this does not super- 

 sede their removal, and if time and their ex- 

 pense arc considered, it will be found cheaper 

 to pound the flocks several times during the 



