CLIMBING SHEEP

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 82, 5 April 1924, Page 16

CLIMBING SHEEP

DIFFICULT.ANIMALS-TO HANDLE

If you^ ask a townsman what sort of live stock would;, in His opinion, be most difficult to handle, he will: probably say horses or cattle, states.Christopher.Beck in the "Daily Slaii:'" . v But'ask the farmer, and he has''no Hesitation in telling yon that sheep ,ars;by'far the most_dinV cult: animals to keep within 'boundsSheep are by nature mpuntairi-dwel&iig animals, and although there are a few breeds, such as" Leicesters, which have been kept on the flat for so many''generations that they have to' some extent lost, their originalyhabits, yet the great' majority' still re.tain|tfieh;, inherited-.love of wandering. xiV* •M.. i. ■: .<•; v•; ■\'■ ■ i ■-:.?.

Welsh sheep are tie worst sinners in this respect. Up ia Wales' you .will see fields surrounded by stone walls six feet high. and. topped with a coping stone projecting six inches. " Yet .even this' does not 'always defeat'; the;, wanderer. These Welsh she<ip-(clinib'-lflv'e-'ssiiirrel3, and if they,m^ke. -ujji- th'eiS-is,tubb'6rii! minds to gc>j■,g6dtkeyt r vnU.'t"'tu'^trti'.il.*« -The one^thingi-.thai'iar.hill^shesprdoes; not like.,iß' o4e : of_,thpse loose walla that; looks tish sh^pherds'j^awaffi/bf'fthisipecuriarity} have /inTeiiteSJ ','•ss e % soSalleE; ,\i, Galloway^ * dike/,::;r ■.Thjs^igj; A, open>s6 that ■ the^sheep -pan' see- through it. .'! athe.i wary /anjmal, \ afraid; of -falling stojifes.': 3ttd -4>roken;.ilegs^leayes «u6h'.va wall<-severelv' alone*---• •■?>•«

A'.t.MicQaHfrTafTTisi.p-.'awafe^ of, t£he-de~ m^^W^^lgrCrfit^r/Vm niariret^bOT^fr'atnnmber^of^Wds}}: hill owTiT^asijices^vTyJieafei .the' grazing was so good ;'thai/he'; dreamed' of •■their leaving "-. iif: .• '.JsTeit'"JJmorniSgT.thefe'■'•was not oiie'. jsße§pjagft"iiii':^lie?fi(ilcL .'A"":l*H'e; flock ' w.^c^^i'o'WgWe'-t'p.al'jsh.,! .and 'if took .Loirr^^-'TOll^^tnem^-'j-iie.- pnt them feTi©i"iSplH'er*'Beld*.:witk 'a. stiff quickset 'hedgb; ;aH';..rotiiKl. it. .'■ : Vain hope! . ■ Next;.day; they'were 'all^away' again, and for' a •yeek. each day :Was spent in gathering^ th'ete; Mast": ia despair the farmer-tried putting in .with them £hree or four stolid" old Leicester *wes. . That solved the problem, arid the •wanderers wandered, no more.