WINTER MANAGEMENT. 49 



There is no greater satisfaction to the owner of a ock, who cares 

 for his sheep, and takes pleasure in their welfare, and in a measure 

 loves the gentle kindly animals, and is interested in managing them 

 so that they may enjoy all the comfort possible for them, than to 

 know that, so far as any efforts of his are concerned, nothing is 

 left undone that can add to their contentment, and that they are 

 spared every discomfort and pain that it is possible to prevent.- 



CHAPTER IV. 

 WINTER MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 



The change from green, succulent food, to that of a dry and 

 concentrated character, is one that needs to be cautiously made. 

 As the summer departs and the fall rains occur, succeeded in their 

 turn by the more rigorous storms of winter, conditions arise which 

 call for a complete change of management on the part of the shep- 

 herd who looks for profit from his flock. It may be a question 

 with some if quality of feed or shelter is the more important con- 

 sideration in the best management of sheep. Certainly abun- 

 dant experience has shown that with the most careful and 

 judicious feeding, sheep, which when well tended are in reality 

 hardier than are generally supposed, have passed safely and 

 thriftily through a winter's storms with no more shelter than 

 that afforded by an open shed; and that they have of their 

 own free will refused the shelter, and have chosen to rest upon 

 the bare snow, at times when the air has been dry and clear. But 

 no case has as yet ever occurred in the experience of any shepherd 

 in which sheep have thrived without well selected, proper, and 

 abundant food, and cases are always occurring in which sheep 

 are greatly injured by excessive carefulness in this matter of 

 shelter. To feed well and judiciously, may therefore be 

 regarded as the first duty and interest of the shepherd ; and to 

 shelter the flock only so far as to maintain it in healthful con- 

 dition, avoiding exposure to unusual rigors of heat or storm, 

 will be not exactly a second duty, but one that attaches to this 

 first interest as being intimately associated with it rather than 

 separated from it. Nevertheless, as before a flock can b,e fed, it fc 

 3 



