12 Forest Club Annual 



the condition both of the stock and range at the end of the 

 season. The question of fencing and thereby preventing the 

 straying of the grazing animals without driving and dogging 

 the stock, as on the open range, which causes varying degrees 

 of destruction to the lands, has been tested by a number of 

 stockmen both on private holdings and on leased lands. In 

 the spring of 1907 the Forest Service inaugurated an experi- 

 ment on the Wallowa National Forest to test the results to 

 range and stock when the latter are pastured. An area of 

 sufficient size to support a band of 2,500 ewes and lambs 

 during the summer grazing period was fenced coyote-proof. 

 Contrary to the opinion of various stockmen it was found 

 that when sheep are left to shift for themselves, without a 

 herder, they soon become accustomed to the conditions and 

 graze contentedly. In the absence of predatory animals, dogs, 

 and other disturbing elements to excite the band and cause the 

 sheep to scurry and run together, and thereby wear out the 

 range, they graze openly and quietly. They bed, often in 

 several small bunches, wherever they happen to be grazing 

 when night . overtakes them, instead of being collected in a 

 single compact bunch where they may unite for a succession 

 of nights and be guarded against predatory animals by a 

 herder. 



The experiment has proven that only from 65 to 80 per 

 cent as much range is required for sheep under pasturage con- 

 ditions as when they are herded in the same size bands on open 

 range of similar character. It is self-evident that less forage 

 would be wasted on a range where the band is not suddenly 

 driven off the bed ground by dogs and jammed onto the range 

 type which suits the ideas or convenience of the herder than 

 where such a destructive system is followed. When allowed 

 to respond to its own inclinations, the ewe with her lamb 

 wanders slowly and leisurely away from the bed ground, 

 selecting her own favorite range type and choice of forage. 

 When handled in this manner, stock are invariably in better 

 condition of flesh when they leave the range at the end of the 

 season than stock grazed on an identical range where they are 

 more or less closely herded and handled by dogs to the usual 

 extent. The matter of fencing, in the case of cattle, has not 

 been carried out in conjunction with this experiment. Many 



