The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1914-06-02
BFDDINC-OUT SYS-
TEN FOR SHEEP

As result OF experiments uuflhg
the past few years the department of
agriculture is now advocating the use
OF the beddingout system of herding
sheep on open ranges, instead of the
old close herding system which has
heretofore been in use.
This system gets its name from the
fact tnat the herder who attends the
band camps and beds his flocks wher-
ever the sheep find themselves at
nghtfall. Under the old plan he es-
tablished fixed camp and bed
ground and drove the sheep back to
the same place each night.
Lambs are Heavier.
Through experience on the national
forest ranges last year the depart
ment states that lambs from bedding
out bands were FIVE pounds heavier ON
an average at the end of the season
than those which were trailed to and
from established bed grounds, and
that the range can carry from 10 to
25 per cent more sheep than when so
much is trampled out in travelling
back and forth. The disadvantages
of the old system, according to the
department, were two-fold, those to
the forage and those to the sheep.
The forage suffered by being trampled
badly and being actually destroyed
at and near the bed grounds; the
sheep lost weight in going to and
from the camps and in dry weather
suffered not a little from dust and
from crowding.
Moreover. under the old system the
sheep were kept pretty well punched;
under the new plan thev Craze at will
in scattered, open flocks. During the
day the herder moves about in a wide
circuit around his charges, looking
for tracks to see that none of the
sheep has strayed beyond his circle.
The sheep are constantly moving
through new feed instead of travelling
over areas already fed over.
Few Sheep Lost.
Sheepmen have maintained that the
close herding system so long in use
was necessary to prevent losses from
straying and FROM the ravage of ami
mails. such as wolves coyotes and
mountain lions. The experiments of
the service show that straying can be
prevented and one band on the Pay
cite forest, Idaho. which never bed
ded two nights in the same place. and
wrich grazed in timber and brush
practically the entire summer, lost
only four head; in this, as in the
majority OF eases the loss under the
new system was less han under the
old one of close herding.
The forest rangers and trained
hunters of the service cooperate with
the herdsmen to rid the ranges of
predatory animals, and to render the
danger of loss from this source less
than it was formerly.
Sheep Owners Endorse 1t.
How the new system is regarded by
the sheep owners is indicated by the
following letter to the supervisor of
the Tahoe national forest California:
81 am in favor of the blanket or
camping out system of sheep herd
ing. | have always found the sheep
and lambs in better condition when
camped out, and in feeding the range
in that way it will carry more sheep
and it does not damage the range as
when they are driven to one camp. ]
have always been very careful about
feeding my summer range and ]
think by the wav | have had it fed
it is as good ii not better than it
was twenty years ago.
! The author of this letter, accord
| ing to local forest officers, is a very
successful woolgrower, and the range
which he uses under permit from the
government is always in the best of
condition, and vet stocked with
sheep to its fullest capacity.