FEEDING OF SHEEP.. 643 



kept until winter it should be fully fed during the fall, so that it 

 may be in good condition for the butcher when the winter sete in. 

 The herder finds that he will not incur any very great expense in 

 carrying his sheep through the winter in prime condition for mutton 

 if they are in good condition in the fall. If he can afford to give 

 them grain, which he can do to his own advantage, feeding it upon 

 the ground upon which roots or other crops have been gathered, the 

 sheep will not only increase sufficiently by eating this after-food in 

 connection with the added grain, but they will benefit the soil 

 greatly by the enrichment which will necessarily attend their being 

 confined within certain limits during a definite period of time. A 

 limited quantity of grain with this after-feed or with the roots, will 

 forward the condition of the sheep better than a decidedly more 

 expensive feed will do if allowed to the sheep after the weather has 

 become cold. The herder will also find it to his advantage and very 

 inexpensive to include in the feed a small quantity of oil cake or 

 cake of husked cotton -seed. If the oil cake be made of linseed, it 

 will be as profitable as any which can be provided. This addition 

 has a fattening tendency and also possesses that nitrogenous element 

 which, as already shown, is so valuable a creator of liquid excre- 

 ment. The sheep will be advanced more rapidly towards maturity 

 by its use, and the offal they cast off will be of greater value to the 

 land than if fed upon the roots or grain without the addition of 

 these nutritious elements. 



Feeding by Use of Hurdles Hurdle-feeding is found 

 an economical and advantageous method of grazing sheep. In 

 this way the sheep are given a fresh feeding place every day 

 and are not allowed to nip the feed too closely; the grass has 

 more favorable opportunity for growth and the fertilization of the 

 ground fed over is more complete and systematic. Hurdles may be 

 made cheaply of light stakes pointed at one end and fastened 

 together with bars, the stakes five feet high, and each panel nine 

 feet long. A hole is made in the ground for each stake by a 

 pointed iron bar, and it is fastened by driving down with a mallet, 

 the panels being secured together with wire. As the crop is eaten 

 the hurdles are moved until the whole field has been covered. 

 Economy of labor may be exercised by laying out the plots in a 

 certain manner. As for instance, take a square ten acre field. It 

 will be 220 yards across and this is the least length of hurdles that 

 can be used. If the field be divided into Bright strips across, the 

 whole hurdles must be moved at once and there will be seven 

 removals of the whole hurdles. In the plan given below, this field 

 may be divided into eight sections by moving oni.j half the hurdles 

 seven times. 



