SHEEP. 



them more healthy than wheu they were left in the fields in 

 the common manner. His lordlhip has another yard ior 

 lambing, which has alfo a (hed. Thefe forts of yards, from 

 their beneficial tendency in different views, ihould be more 

 generally made ufe of by (heep-farmers in all fituations. See 

 SiiEEP-Nou/e. 



This practice is had recourfe to on arable land for raifinor 

 different forts of craps of the corn and green kind, as well 

 as on grafs-lands. It is fuppofed by fome, that a flock of 

 about five hundred (heep will be fufficient to pen twenty- 

 eight fquare perches of land each night, which will amount 

 to about fifty acres in the year, where the praftice is dif- 

 continued two months in the courfe of that time. The value 

 of this is different in different dillrifts, as from above thirty 

 to more than forty fhillings the acre, which for five hundred 

 Iheep, would be from 87/. to 100/. for fifty acres, which, 

 taking the averatje at 94/. for that amount of ftock, the an- 

 nual advantage of the fold may be fet at 3^. ^J. a-hcad, or 

 rather more ; taking it at 100/. it would be 4J. 2i</., or rather 

 more. This fhews the great utility of it in fome places. 

 All forts of (heep, except the fattening ones, and thofe dif- 

 pofed to that ftate, are moftly folded. It forms a fort of 

 moving dungliill, which enriches the land at but little ex- 

 pence, and which may probably be rendered further ufeful 

 by a greater divifion of the flocks. It is alfo beneficial in 

 preventing the wafte of food on grafs-lands, as well as in 

 confuming particular forts of crops. See Sheep-FoU. 



Hurdling-Management of Sheep. — It may be noticed, that 

 the great utility of hurdling off different kinds of green 

 crops, in confuming them by fheep, has been long known 

 and praftifed ; and equal advantage may be derived in 

 many cafes, by having recourfe to the fame method on rich 

 grafs-lands in large iaclofures, fo as to let the animals I'.ave 

 a freih fpace or bite every day. The fheep are found to 

 thrive better, and the fame extent of land to fupport con- 

 fiderably mnri; in number, wiiile the land is at the fame 

 time much improved. And it is not improbable, but that 

 other forts of Hock may be managed in the fame way with 

 fimilar advantage. In thefe cafe^ the hurdles mult be fet 

 according to the nature of the grafs ; where it is bare and 

 thin, larger pieces (hould be folded, than in the contrary 

 circumilance. See Hurdles. 



Wajhing- Management of Sheep. — From the fleeces of fheep 

 becoming much loaded and filled withdufl and dirt of various 

 kinds, in the hot fummer feafon, by way of preparation for 

 fhearing, it is neceifary to have recourfe to the operation of 

 vuajhing. It was formerly the method of performing this 

 bufinefs to have the wafliers ftar.ding up to the breafl in the 

 water ; but from the inconvenience and danger of it, the 

 men requiring a large fupply of fpirituous liquors, and being 

 liable to be attacked with colds, rheumatifms, and other dif- 

 eafes, as well as being apt to difpatch the work with too 

 much expedition, fo as to leave the wool infufBciently clean ; 

 it has been propofed by Mr. Young, in his Calendar, to rail 

 off a portion of the water (in a ftream or pond) for the fheep 

 to walk into by a flope mouth at one end, with a depth 

 fufficient at one part for them to Iwim ; and to pave the 

 whole : the breadth need not be more than fix or feven feet ; 

 at one fpot tt) let in on each fide of this paffage, where the 

 depth is jull fufficient for the water to flow over the fheep's 

 back, a calk either fixed or leaded, for a man to fland in dry ; 

 the fheep being in the water between them, they are wafhed in 

 perfetlion, and pufhingthem on, they fwim through the deep 

 part, and walk out at the other mouth, where a clean pen, 

 or a very clean dry pafture, is to receive them ; of courfe 

 there is a bridge rail-way to the tubs, and a pen at the firft 

 mouth of the water, whence the fheep are turned into it, 



where they may be foaking a few minutes before being drivei* 

 to the wafhers. But other more cheap contrivances may be 

 provided where there is clean water at hand for the pur- 

 pofes. And fheep fliould on no account be driven on dry 

 or dufly roads after this operation. 



But in all cafes before this work commences, the lambs 

 fhould be feparated from the ewes and other fheep, and each 

 be ])Ut in feparate pens. With thefe it is feldom neceflary 

 to do much more than jufl fwill them through the water, 

 without their being touched by the wafhers. As foon as 

 they liave been wafhed, the fheep fliould have a clean hard 

 paliure for a few days, until they are perfectly dry, and in a 

 proper condition to be fhorn. The lambs are generally 

 fliorn, efpecially in the northern diitrifts, a few weeks after 

 the old fheep, and the operation is termed JherVmg. The 

 lambs that are fold in Smithfield market are, we believe, 

 feldom or ever fhorn. See SnEt.P- Shearing, and Sher- 

 LING of Z,amis. 



The praAice of walliing the (heep before they are (horn is 

 a ciiflom that prevails over mofl part of the kingdom, efpe- 

 cially with the long-wooUed breeds, and pretty generally 

 with thofe of the fhort-woolied kinds alfo, but which is 

 performed with more difRculty in them from the clofe- 

 matted nature of the fleece. It is faid, however, to have I 

 been the cuftom in Devonfliire, for a great length of time, J 

 never to wafli the fliort-wooUed flieep, but to (hear them dry, -j 

 as is conflantly the cafe in Spain. 



The pradice of wafhing the ftieep before fliearing now, 

 however, begins to prevail in fome parts of it, according to the 

 writer of the Agricultural Report of the county. This has 

 at length been enforced, it is fuppofed, by the difference in 

 the price which the wool-buyers make between wool in the 

 yolk and waflied wool, which is no lefs than 50 per cent, even 

 in the Dorfet fort of wool ; and though it is not io much, it 

 is greatly more than proportionate in the coarfer fleeces, be- 

 fides the over-weight of 5 per cent. The wool of the Dorfet 

 fat wether (heep, which is about five pounds each when wa(hed 

 in the yolk, rarely fells for more than ix. the pound, but wlien 

 walhed, it as commonly commands \s. 6J. The weight 

 of a fleece in the yolk, is to the fame fleece when wafhed, it is 

 .faid, as fix and three quarters to five, and the confequent 

 value is as 6s. gel. to -js. ctl. the fleece. Tliis has, at length, 

 been made evident to the fheep-farmers of tliis dillrift, who 

 now willingly agree, that it is advantageous to wafli fliort- 

 woolled flieep before fliearing, but to fell the long and coarfe 

 (lapled fleeces in the yolk. 



Good clean wafliing is a matter of great confcquence to 

 the wool ; and it is of much advantage to it as well as the 

 flieep to have the weather fair and fine at the time it is 

 performed, as they are much lefs liable to have colds. 



Shearing-Time. — In refpeft to the proper period of 

 clipping or ihearing fheep, it muit be dircded by the ilate 

 of the weather, and the climate in the particular diltrift ; 

 and by this means the danger of injury by cold, from de- 

 priving the fheep of their coats at too early a feafon, and 

 from heat, by permitting them to continue on them too 

 long, may be avoided in the beft manner. But another 

 circumilance, that fhould likewife be attended to in this 

 bufinefs, is that of the wool being fully grown, or at the ftate 

 of maturity ; as where the clipping precedes that period, it 

 is faid, in the Annals of Agriculture, to be weak, and 

 fcarcely capable of being fpun ; ar.d if protrafted later, it 

 is yellow, felted, and of an imperfedl nature. It has been 

 ftated, that for the more warm fheltered fituations in the 

 fouthern parts of the kingdom, the beginning or middle of 

 .Tune, when the weather is fine, may be in general the moit 

 proper ; but in the more expofed diftridt, in the northern 

 4 parts 



