BUILDINGS FOR SHEEP. 237 



than wide. In shape it should be L shaped and built so as 

 to provide protection from the north and the west, as it 

 is from these directions that most of our severe winds come. 

 A barn of this construction should not be more than twenty- 

 five or thirty feet wide. There should be an alley along the 

 north and west sides about four or five feet wide for feeding 

 purposes. In fact, many good barns are not more than twenty 

 feet wide with a four-foot alley, leaving about sixteen feet 

 clear for the sheep. This arrangement of a barn divides up 

 very nicely. No stationary partitions are needed, as the 

 feed racks, which should be sixteen feet long, will serve two 

 purposes. They can be put in crosswise, thus making a real 

 good partition. This method of dividing the barn proves to 

 be very convenient in the spring of the year or at any other 

 time where it is desirable to remove the manure. The feed 

 racks may then be taken out, thus leaving the building one 

 open space. In making the feed racks it is best to con- 

 struct them for the double purpose of feeding both roughage 

 and grain or other fine feed. This can be easily done by 

 having the racks about two feet or twenty-eight inches wide 

 at the bottom. Then have two boards about eight inches 

 wide each nailed together in the shape of a wide angled V. 

 The angle should be of at least 135 degrees. These boards 

 should then be placed on the center of the bottom of the 

 rack so as to form a slope on either side towards the outer 

 edge. This will be found very helpful in keeping the grain 

 or other fine feed in the outer edge of the bottom of the 

 rack. That part of the rack which is to hold the rough feed, 

 such as hay, straw or corn fodder, should be built on the 

 center of the V shaped ridge and project upwards to the 

 height of about three feet. They should slant gradually up- 

 wards so as to be about two feet wide at top. Vertical slats 

 about four inches wide and three inches apart should be 

 nailed on the sides. This affords a very good means of sup- 

 plying the roughness to the animals at their own will and 

 at the same time protecting their fleeces from chaff and 

 other foreign matter. The bottom of the feed racks should 

 be about eight inches from the ground. The side boards on 

 the lower part of the grain trough should not be more than 

 four inches in height. This makes a very good combination 

 feed rack, and is both economical from the standpoint of 

 exposure and labor. 



In each and every sheep barn there should be one or two 



