You can camp under the
dray at night. In about a week you will get on to your run, and very
glad you will feel when you are safely come to the end of your journey.
See the horses properly looked to at once; then set up the tent, make a
good fire, put the kettle on, out with the frying-pan and get your
supper, smoke the calumet of peace, and go to bed.
The first question is, Where shall you place your homestead? You must
put it in such a situation as will be most convenient for working the
sheep. These are the real masters of the place - the run is theirs, not
yours: you cannot bear this in mind too diligently. All considerations
of pleasantness of site must succumb to this. You must fix on such a
situation as not to cut up the run, by splitting off a little corner too
small to give the sheep free scope and room. They will fight rather shy
of your homestead, you may be certain; so the homestead must be out of
their way. You MUST, however, have water and firewood at hand, which is
a great convenience, to say nothing of the saving of labour and expense.
Therefore, if you can find a bush near a stream, make your homestead on
the lee side of it. A stream is a boundary, and your hut, if built in
such a position, will interfere with your sheep as little as possible.
The sheep will make for rising ground and hill-side to camp at night,
and generally feed with their heads up the wind, if it is not too
violent. As your mob increases, you can put an out-station on the other
side the run.
In order to prevent the sheep straying beyond your boundaries, keep ever
hovering at a distance round them, so far off that they shall not be
disturbed by your presence, and even be ignorant that you are looking at
them. Sheep cannot be too closely watched, or too much left to
themselves. You must remember they are your masters, and not you
theirs; you exist for them, not they for you. If you bear this well in
mind, you will be able to turn the tables on them effectually at
shearing-time. But if you once begin to make the sheep suit their
feeding-hours to your convenience, you may as well give up sheep-farming
at once. You will soon find the mob begin to look poor, your percentage
of lambs will fall off, and in fact you will have to pay very heavily
for saving your own trouble, as indeed would be the case in every
occupation or profession you might adopt.
Of course you will have to turn your sheep back when they approach the
boundary of your neighbour.
