SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 157 



several reasons. If the sheep get out of the pasture, you 

 can find them easily ; if a dog gets among them with the 

 idea of chasing them, the ringing of the bells very often will 

 disconcert him and stop him ; besides, the noise of the bells 

 made by the sheep, when frightened, is very sure to be 

 heard by some one on the farm, unless the pasture is a long 

 way off. 



Use hurdles to yard your sheep in at night, and yard 

 them every night. The advantages are these : if you hurdle 

 in a pasture, you can hurdle on the poorest spots, and in this 

 way top-dress them, so that it will show for many years. 

 If you hurdle on your mowing fields, the same advantage 

 holds good. 



Feed a little grain in troughs, in either case, and take my 

 word for it, you will top-dress your pastures and fields 

 cheaper than you ever did before, and you will get no foul 

 seed on them by using this kind of top-dressing. 



The time and labor needed is in changing; the hurdles 

 every two or three days, or when you have got on as much 

 manure as you desire. 



If you want to raise early lambs, the hurdling will be 

 almost indispensable, as you can then put your ram in at 

 night, and by feeding him all the grain he will eat during the 

 day you will have him fresh for service when turned in with 

 the ewes at night. 



A word about breeding for early lambs. The great trouble 

 to overcome is, that the ewes refuse to receive the atten- 

 tions of the ram as early as desired. By feeding a little 

 more grain than usual, you make the ewes gain a little flesh. 

 This helps ; the old English saying, ' ' A ewe comes rutting 

 when she begins to mend," is also true with us to a certain 

 extent. 



But from my own experience, I believe that more than 

 feed, or even frosty nights, is to have rams enough to turn 

 out a fresh one every night, and then, by using other rams 

 in regular succession, give each a few days' rest. When each 

 one's turn comes to be put with the ewes, he is full of life 

 and desire, and teases the whole flock over and over again, 

 till at last the ewes begin to yield to his entreaties. 



Using rams in this way, there ought to be a ram for every 



