514 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK iv- 



wards employ himself in setting a fresh pen, getting up the chaff and 

 corn in readiness for the next day, attending to the sheep's feet, 

 cutting off dirty locks around their tails, or digging out small patches 

 of couch in the pens, so that none is trodden into the ground. 

 About noon he should refill the root-troughs, and then get his dinner, 

 after which he can continue his other duties as in the fore-noon. 

 Towards evening he should again fill the root-troughs, and give the sheep 

 the second half of their corn and chaff. Having satisfied their appetites, 

 and made sure they have sufficient food to last them through the night, 

 he should go round the hurdles and see that the pens are secure. In 

 frosty weather he should loosen the hurdles and stakes, so that none 

 may be frozen in. After rains, or during the early parts of thaws, he 

 should be particularly careful to see that the stakes are well driven 

 into the ground, or the hurdles will fall down with but little pressure 

 of the sheep or wind. 



From December to April the sheep will be sold out as they become 

 fit for the butcher. Those sheep not fattened out on the roots will 

 be run on to the leys, and topped out on them as shearhogs, but with 

 the Down breeds the number of sheep kept until they are shearhogs 

 diminishes, as the aim is now to get them out as tegs during winter. 

 Some of the tegs are sold in the wool, while others are shorn pre- 

 viously to being sent to market ; these latter must be provided with 

 cloth jackets, or they will be injured by the cold. 



The management of long-woolled sheep is very similar to that which 

 has been described, except that the lambs come later, and are generally 

 kept on grass during the first few months of their lives. Some run 

 on grass throughout summer, while others run on leys. Many are 

 wintered on roots, but as they are not forced out so quickly, they do 

 not, as a rule, receive so much corn as the Down breeds. Some pass 

 the winter on grass, their food being augmented by roots carted to 

 them. In the spring they go on to grass and leys, and are fattened out 

 and sold as they become fit for market. Some are sold before shearing 

 time, while others are first shorn and then prepared for market, some 

 not going out until they have fed off cole-seed and other crops of a 

 similar nature, but there is a tendency to fatten them out earlier than 

 was the custom a few years ago. 



It is advisable to divide the flock into various sections, so that they 

 may be treated separately in accordance with the purpose for which 

 they are severally intended. Thus the ewes, fatting tegs, breeding 

 tegs, wethers, and other sections should all be penned or grazed 

 separately, and receive corn in quantity suited to their condition. 



When a farm is thus stocked with a proper assortment of sheep, the 

 owner should frequently inspect them, particularly in the winter ; and 

 either remove them into better feed, or dispose of those which do not 

 thrive upon their allotted grounds, as he sees need. Independently, 

 too, of these examinations, the shepherd should carefully watch over 

 his charges, as they are liable to numerous maladies. 



A very frequent evil is the acute form of inflammation, which 

 pursues its course with almost incredible rapidity in autumn and 



