56 • SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



than to him who buys it ; and some men may have abundance of 

 English or meadow hay remote from a market, with whom the 

 question only is : with what kind of stock shall I consume this hay 

 upon my farm. Then again some farmers are liberal feeders, and 

 cannot go to their barns or sheds without throwing hay into the 

 cribs or racks ; others feed scantily and make the animals go as 

 long as possible on their muscle. 



Let us assume, then, that the sheep is the cross breed kept in 

 this county by the best managers, a cross of the merino with a 

 larger, long-wooled native or foreign sheep, say the Cotswold, the 

 ewes weighing at two years old 90 lbs. live weight, with only the 

 necessary proportion of bucks, as one to iifty ewes, and only the 

 ewe lambs kept, the other lambs being sold before the foddering 

 season. What will such a flock require per day per head ? Here 

 is a table setting forth the judgment of the most eminent foreign 

 writers upon sheep husbandry upon this point : * 



Petri, 3 to 3.^ lbs. per head a day for a sheep of 70 lbs live weight to fatten. 



Thaee, 3^ lbs. per day, or 52,000 lbs., 2G tons, for 100 sheep for a winter. 



Veit, 2^ lbs. per day per head for a sheep weighing 100 lbs. live weight. 



Veit also gives this table : 



For a long wooled German sheep of 100 lbs. live weight, 2-50 lbs. daily, 380 lbs. 



for the winter. 

 For an Infantado Merino, live weight 88 lbs., 2-20 lbs. per day, 330 for the winter. 

 For grade Saxon Electoral " 75 " 1-87 " " 280 " 



For pure " Escurial " 62 " 1-55 " " 232 " 



For one-eighth Electoral " 66 " 1-65 " " 247 " 



When it is considered that this statement is predicated upon a 

 foddering season of 150 days, quite as long as ours, the quantity^ of 

 fodder seems very small, but it must be borne in mind that these 

 are fiue-wooled sheep, considerably smaller than the average of 

 ewes. 



The Baron Von Sternerg, in his description of the management 

 of Saxony sheep furnished in 1859 to Mr. Wright, United States 

 Minister at Berlin, says : the sheep are stabled all winter, genei-- 

 ally from the first of November to the middle of April, according to 

 the season ; and that one-thirtieth part of the weight of the live 

 animal, in good hay, is considered necessary per day for its sus- 

 tenance." 



This is a higher estimate than that in Veit's table by about one- 

 third, and allows 3 1-2 lbs. per day or 500 lbs. per 150 days, for a 

 sheep whose live weight is 100 lbs, 



* Morrell's American Shepherd. 



