488 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



an inch thick, perhaps fourteen inches wide and about two feet long. 

 For feeding, these slabs are reduced to the size of hazel nuts and this is 

 called "nut cake" and is the most desirable size for sheep feeding. Usu- 

 ally it is ground to a meal "but that forms a paste in the sheep's mouth 

 which is undesirable. Oil cake or meal is a very healthful feed and places 

 sheep in a fine general condition with a pink skin, oily fleece and good 

 quality of flesh. It has a most beneficial effect upon the digestive organs 

 and the flock always profits by having a small portion mixed with its regu- 

 lar winter grain allowance. 



PRACTICAL SHEEP BARNS. 



Proper shelter for the flocks adds greatly to their thrift, while improper 

 sheds are in many instances not much better than nothing. To economic- 

 ally build barns which are correct at all times and for all purposes should 

 be the desire of flockmasters. In the summer the pure-bred breeder wants 

 a barn properly arranged for the well doing of sheep which he will be 

 preparing for exhibition purposes, when cold disagreeable weather comes 

 in the autumn all breeders want a place for the flocks to lie inside and 

 have a little clover, during the winter ample shelter must be provided from 

 heavy storms and a dry clean place is needed for feeding, in early spring 

 a warm dry place is needed for the ewes and young lamTjs. Those are the 

 needs for shelter. Then comes the matter of feeding and not only must 

 proper feed troughs bo provided but the rough feed should be close at 

 hand. Arrangements should be made for some means of sorting the sheep 

 without turning out of the barn. Some way of easily loading into and un- 

 loading from a wagon should be provided. There should Tdc some space 

 for mixing grain, to place buckets and all other loose necessaries about 

 such a barn. The shepherd should have a room of his own, so he will be 

 near the sheep at all times, and especially during the lambing period. 



We have been many years in planning a barn to meet all such require- 

 ments, and we are now fully satisfied with those we have erected at 

 "Clover Hill Farm." The one photo is of the outside of one of our barns, 

 and the other photo gives an idea of the trough and pen arrangement in- 

 side. We do not believe in the low poorly-ventilated sheds found on so 

 many sheep farms, and furthermore we want all hay and straw above 

 the sheep where it is easily obtainable regardless of weather. Rough feed 

 and straw, being kept from the weather in this way is also very bright 

 and there is no loss such as is experienced by stacking outside. Such 

 a barn lessens the shepherd's work and saves much general expense to the 

 owner. Large doors next to the roof-peak open down to permit hay, etc., 

 to be sent in by means of fork or sling on a steel track. Such entrance is 

 at both ends, the carrier running from either end to center of hay mow. 

 A large feed way, a'bout 6x4 feet, extends from toij of mow to shed below 

 and this being arranged in center of barn lessens the winter work when 

 feeding. The floor of the mow is 7-inch matched house flooring so no 

 dust can possibly fall on the sheep below. This barn, 80 feet long and 

 36 feet wide, has hay room sufficiently large to hold all rough feed needed 

 during a year for the 300 sheep which the shed below will hold. In the 



