152 YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 



ment of the careless flockmasters. Better confine them in the 

 yard than allow them to ramble about in search of some field 

 of winter grain, which furnishes a little green food, but too 

 light to be of any real value. 



Winter fodder should embrace, in addition to the dry food, 

 n, due proportion of that which is green and succulent. Fine 

 early cut clover hay, well cured, or that from old meadows, 

 consisting of a variety of grasses, forms the best dry fodder. 

 Economy demands that its quality should be good, else much 

 waste ensues ; yet the sheep is very fond of variety, and almost 

 all of the so-called weeds become choice morsels. The botan 

 ist knows full well that a sheep-range will be most barren of 

 the objects of his search. The immortal LinnaBus tested the 

 plants indigenous to Sweden by offering them, fresh gathered, 

 to the various domesticated animals. 



Horses ate 262 species, and rejected 212; cattle ate 276 spe 

 cies, and refused 218, while sheep took readily 387, and refused 

 only 141 species. For fattening, add to the hay, roots, and 

 grain, linseed or cotten-seed meal. The English system of winter 

 feeding on turnips in the field is here prevented by excessive 

 cold. Use them in the yards in moderate weather. Sudden 

 changes from green to dry food, and the reverse should be 

 avoided. Regularity in the hours of feeding is very impor 

 tant. 



The amount of fodder varies with the kind of sheep, though 

 it is not directly proportioned to the live weight. Ten small 

 fme-w r oolled sheep will eat as much as a cow, the larger ones 

 requiring more. 2 to 2^ or even 3 per cent, of the live weight 

 in hay value, is estimated by different authors as daily required. 



No other animals except calves should lie in the yards with 

 sheep. The losses from the horns of steers and the heels of 

 colts more than balance any supposed gain. As the breathing 

 of the sheep on the hay does not of itself render it distasteful 

 to cattle, it may be gathered from the racks and fed in another 

 enclosure. 



