Since 1951 (and prior to), when the University purchased the HREC property from Roy Pratt, there have been sheep grazing much of the property. To ease movement of researchers and staff on the Center devices commonly called "cattleguards" have been used to replace gates where roads cross pasture fencelines. This allows free movement of vehicles without the need to get out of the vehicle to open/close a gate. At HREC, since we only have sheep as livestock on the premises, we might call these "sheepguards". Prior designs with flat, rail tops, have in recent years been "figured out" by sure-footed sheep and simply were not working to restrict the sheep movement between pastures. This new design, with rounded pipes at the crossing-surface of the "sheepguard", seems to be working well to prevent sheep from crossing.
