220 YARDS LITTERING YAKDS. 



YARDS. I by no means wish to be understood to express 

 the opinion that sheep yards should, for any purpose of utility, 

 be restricted to the narrow dimensions of those given in the 

 preceding ground plans. I rather consider those the least 

 dimensions which can be regarded as proper ; and if 

 convenience equally admitted of it, I would prefer to have 

 them much more spacious. They should be constructed on 

 dry, firm, thoroughly drained ground ; and a gravelly soil 

 rapidly permeable by surface water, and which quickly dries, 

 is much preferable to a clayey, tenacious soil, or a peaty or 

 mucky one which retains moisture. All the yards ought to 

 have separate access to water, and, if practicable, separate 

 access to different fields. This last fact renders the plan of 

 yards given with the first of the preceding ground plans 

 objectionable, unless the two middle flocks can be let into 

 diiferent fields through doors in the opposite side of the barn. 

 That plan merely saves the digging of one well ; and I should 

 much prefer to dig the two wells (at/,/,) and have the yards 

 of equal length, and each possessed of separate and indepen- 

 dent egress and ingress.* 



LITTERING YARDS. Strawing or otherwise littering sheep 

 yards in winter in the most thorough manner, is a matter of 

 prime importance. If sheep are compelled to stand or move 

 about in mud or water whenever out of doors, the most 

 liberal feeding and good management in every other partic- 

 ular, will hardly preserve them in the best condition. They 

 should have a comparatively dry out-door bed to stand on in 

 wet weather, and a warm one in cold weather. The sheep 

 or at least all the upland breeds of sheep find one of the 

 worst enemies of their health and thrift in habitual wetness 

 under foot. Muddy yards prevent sheep from moving about 

 out of doors and spending a portion of the time in the sun 

 and fresh air, in pleasant winter weather ; promote fouls ; 

 render hoof rot incurable ; and cause lameness and annoyance 

 to sheep which have sound feet, when a sudden freeze converts 

 the small pellets of mud which adhere to the hairs in the 

 forward part of the cleft of the foot, into pellets of stone. A 

 little straw is excellent feed for sheep. If it is scattered over 



* By gates opposite each other on the eight-feet passage one of them opening 

 entirely across it on the side of the outer yards a separate passage could be obtained ; 

 but this would not be very convenient, and when the passage was thus closed, the 

 sheep in the outside yards would not have access to the water trough at e. 



