220 LIVE STOCK MANAGEMENT. 



need not be costly or elaborate; the south side may be left 

 entirely open. The yard should be well drained, graded and 

 surfaced to carry off superflous water. Sheep love the dry 

 and must have it if they are to do well. With sheds on the 

 north, dry footing beneath, and yards on the southern slope, 

 the sheep are under comfortable conditions and will do well. 

 For feeding roughage the old plan of a picket fence is the 

 best yet devised. It can be placed parallel to and about fifteen 

 feet distant from the regular outside fence, and between 

 these the hay and fodder can be thrown off in wholesale 

 quantities, and then moved up next the picket fence, where 

 the sheep can get it as needed. 



Good clover hay is ideal roughage, and alfalfa is still bet- 

 ter, when it can be secured. Where neither of these feeds 

 is available, bright corn fodder is the next best feed, is greatly 

 relished by sheep, and gives good results. It is useless to 

 shred or cut fodder for fattening sheep (unless the refuse 

 is desired for bedding), as they will not consume the rougher 

 portions as cattle will under similar conditions. To feed 

 the grain, flat-bottomed troughs, from 10 to 12 inches wide 

 and 12 to 16 feet long, should be provided. Henry says that 

 100-pound sheep should be allowed 15 inches space at the 

 trough, and 200-pound sheep 24 inches. Where the troughs 

 set out in the open, where the sheep can get at them from 

 both sides, less room than this will be needed. 



For grain feed shelled corn is the great standard. Sheep 

 masticate the food much more thoroughly than cattle do, and 

 grinding is unnecessary. The sheep should be brought on 

 feed very gradually, and as good a plan as any is to feed 

 some bran for the first ten or fifteen days. If the feed is to 

 be a short one, they should be receiving a pound per day per 

 head by the end of the first twenty-five days, and by the end 

 of forty or forty-five days should be receiving from one and 

 one-half to two pounds per head daily; the exact amount will 

 vary in the case of different bunches, some proving heavy, 

 hearty feeders and others much less so. The aim is, how- 

 ever, to give them all they will consume after they are once 

 up on full feed. Shelled corn, with some bran and clover 

 hay, is as satisfactory a ration as can be secured for fatten- 

 ing sheep, and under ordinary conditions is as economical 

 a ration as can be fed. When such supplemental feed stuffs 

 as oil meal and gluten feed are low in price, they can be used 

 to good advantage; and whenever emmer, cow peas or soy 



