504 



The Herd wick Sheep. 



[Sept. , 



On these unfenced Fells, it is only by keeping sheep reared 

 on the place that straying can be prevented, and the full 

 resources of the Fell can be exploited. The older sheep lead the 

 others well out towards the boundaries. For these reasons 

 wethers are kept to the age of four or five years, a custom now 

 considered elsewhere unsound economically. 



The fact that these flocks can be maintained on unfenced 

 lands is entirely due to the quite exceptional homing instinct of 

 the Herdwick sheep. A Herdwick born on a particular place will 

 spend the rest of its life within a few hundred yards of that 

 place, and a shepherd knows where he will always find particular 

 sheep. Herdwicks sold away from their native heafs will return 

 from incredible distances, crossing rivers and even lakes en 

 route. To-day they are brought from 3 to 7 miles for 

 dipping, &c., through the flocks of several owners. On being 

 released, if unrestrained, they return to their own heafs. 



The rams are put out on the Fells from Martinmas to the end 

 of November. In the higher places they are " ruddled," i.e., 

 coloured all over with red so that they may be easily seen by the 

 ewes on the open Fells during snow. At the autumn shows at 

 Eskdale and Keswick, the rams are generally shown " ruddled." 



The peculiar custom of " Eam Letting " is general, and at 

 Keswick on the first Saturday in October and at Eskdale on the 

 last Friday in September large numbers of rams and ram lambs 

 are exposed for sale or hire. The writer knows one farmer who 

 at present keeps seventy stock rams. Many of the best rams are 

 bespoke for years in advance. The hiring fee varies from 30s. 

 to £5 or more — one famous ram was let for seven days at £1 a 

 day, and another for 10 days for £7. Ram lambs are let out to 

 farmers to winter — ^the farmer wintering them, then having the 

 option of claiming their use for two or more years free of charge 

 In the cold spring weather after the season, the rams are kept 

 inside, hand fed and turned out to water, and some of the 

 smaller flocks are housed this way in winter and hand fed. Up 

 to ;£50 has been paid in the open market for a Herdwick ram. 



The lambs are dropped not before the end of April ; 90 lambs 

 to 100 ewes is good, 80 to 100 not bad ; 10 per cent, of ewes with 

 twins is quite good. 



It is essential that the lambs be wintered on low land the first 

 year. The usual Herdmck farm not having sufficient low land 

 for this nor to grow hay to hand feed them, wintering " oat- 

 side " must be found. Owing to the difficulty of finding this 

 near, to the high cost of freightage if carried to a distance, and 



