CLEARANCE OF SHEEP
Under the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council Regulations
commoners are legally required to remove their sheep
from the common in the autumn for a given period.
They are gathered into the farmstead so that the animals
can be treated for parasites and disease.
As rams are prohibited from the commons in summer
and early autumn, the ewes are mated at this time before
they are turned back onto the common to produce
lambs in the following spring. This explains why the use
of the common is so closely tied to the farms and fields
adjacent to it.
