LIVE STOCK BREEDERS. 195 



to suit fancy. The corn may be fed shelled, but I do not like it that 

 way because they eat it too fast, and some get more than they need, 

 but in cut corn, the eating- process is slower, the food is better masti- 

 cated and there is a better chance for all to get their share. 



They should always have free access to fresh water and salt and 

 neve:- be left without it. They drink lots when on dry feed ; they don't 

 drink so much at a time, but often. Good, thrifty sheep thus fed will 

 fatten and gain thirty to thirty-five pounds each in seventy-five days., 

 and ought then to go to market for it rarely ever pays to feed them 

 longer. The gain, however, will depend largely upon their condition 

 when put up for feeding. If fairly fat they don't gain as much as if 

 in moderate flesh and thrifty, nor do they require as much feed or as 

 long feeding. 



If one has no clover for hay then sow lYz bushels of oats with i 

 bushel of field peas per acre and cut when in dough and cure like hay, 

 It yields big and is a fine substitute for clover hay. Corn fodder does 

 very well but is not as good as either of the former. 



Never allow feeding sheep grass in winter as the grass is too light 

 and soft to be of any real value to them, and the losses in searching 

 and rambling after it and the refusal of other feed more than double 

 the supposed gain. 



The feed lot should be in a dry place. Have a shed, closed at 

 one side and the ends and roofed over to keep out rain and wind. Both. 

 it and the yard should be bedded with corn stalks or litter to prevent 

 mud and wasting of the manure. A timber lot or small grove well 

 set with trees is a good place to feed in. The trees are protection 

 enough without shed, but in a wet winter a shed is far better and the 

 manure can be saved better. 



Salt and hay should always be fed under cover — hay in racks and 

 salt in troughs. Economy in feeding demands this system, for water- 

 soaked hay is always rejected by sheep and salt wastes much from rain. 



Of course it is understood there are other good feeds to fatten 

 sheep on, such as mill-screenings, oil-meal, etc., and are used by regular 

 feeders who buy both sheep and feed to fatten them in large numbers 

 for speculation, which does not interest us. But what we are interested 

 in is how we farmers and stockmen who raise a part or all of the first- 

 mentioned product on our farms can turn it into meats so we can drive 

 it to market instead of hauling it and realize as much or more for it 

 than it would bring in a raw state, and enrich our soil besides so we can 

 raise more and better grain and stock. 



To do this I believe our own raising the most profitable feed. It 

 saves the expense of transportation to and fro. And when thus fed 



