Gents Mag 1899 part 2 p.539
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introduction, lists | ||
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list, 4th qtr 19th century | ||
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Gentleman's Magazine 1899 part 2 p.539
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shepherd's year
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The Shepherd's
Year
THE SHEPHERD'S YEAR. TO a casual observer no alteration in the life and practice of the shepherd seems possible which does not involve the destruction of the rugged silence and the atmosphere distinctive of the fells as well, and few will have noticed that the system of mountain sheep-farming has been completely revolutionised within the last half-century. On every fell considerable areas have been enclosed, at first a few acres at a time by dry stone walls, and later wholesale by wire fencing, parish boundaries being first defined across the open moor, and the ground subdivided among the farms in proportion to their claims to heaf. The wilderness of peaks crowded round the Langdales, Wastdale, Borrowdale, Ennerdale, and Eskdale is still undivided, but even there the danger of loss is so reduced that the shepherd's vigilance has been greatly relaxed. Within the last seventy years the indigenous mountain sheep of Westmorland and Cumberland has been improved out of all knowledge. It is still below average size, though much larger than it once was - standing about thirty inches at the shoulder, and weighing about fifteen stones when fully grown and in fair condition - carrying more and better wool, and being of a more robust constitution - the result of patient cross-breeding with the larger southern and the hardier Scottish breeds. Anyone who has visited the great sheep fairs within a day's march of the fells will remember two distinct types of animals - black-faced and grey-faced, together with an alarming number of crosses. Though cramped and hampered in their movements, these little grey-coated sheep show their alertness in repeated dashes for the open, some even showing open defiance of the dogs in charge of them. At these fairs the difficulty of keeping flocks separate is great, and only possible by the help of the most intelligent and well-trained canines in the world. An instance of this rare intelligence is well remembered. Two farmers, returning from a fair, allowed their flocks to mix. After their ways parted, one discovered that three of his number were missing, and therefore next morning called |
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