FEEDING OF SHEEP. 645 



Other Valuable Feed for Sheep Winter rye will 

 supply good feed that can be utilized during the entire season, and 

 then be in condition for pasturage or to yield another crop the suc- 

 ceeding year. Both this and peas are safe feed. Some herders 

 find it to their advantage to sow oats with the peas, and the crop 

 thus sown will be available to the flock as early as if the peas had 

 been sown alone, and the change is found to be a desirable one. 

 Oats are also a good feed when sown alone. Like peas, if eaten off 

 when they are six inches high, they will immediately grow again, 

 but not, of course, if they are allowed to mature. Millet can be 

 grown in all parts of the United States and is valuable both for 

 rodder and seed. It matures best upon warm and dry laud and 

 requires careful cultivation. It grows rapidly and covers the 



f round well. It is a favorite feed with sheep and where the farmer 

 as plenty of land it may be sown in small pieces at different times 

 so that one section will follow another for feeding. The most com- 

 mon variety of millet is known as Hungarian grass. It reaches a 

 large, full growth, arid proves a profitable pasturage. 



Best Time for Hoot Feeding- Eoot feeding is now 

 commonly understood to be profitable, and American breeders of 

 sheep are turning their attention to its advantages, which have been 

 long recognized in England. The best authorities indicate that the 

 most desirable time of the year in which to make roots the most 

 profitable feed is during the later fall months before the weather 

 becomes too severe, and allowing the sheep to feed them off the 

 ground. This is best regulated by the use of hurdles, as before des- 

 cribed in referring to economy of pasture feed. Beets and turnips 

 may be matured so as to be in condition to be fed in the month of 

 October, and sheep can be fed upon them with late clover, and the 

 very best quality of nourishing succulent food can thus be provided 

 for the opening of winter. Rape, which can be produced at about 

 the same expense as wheat, has been found to grow successfully on 

 the Western Prairies, and sheep herders would find it to their 

 advantage and profit to make this an important crop. It is consid- 

 ered to have an advantage over carrots, turnips or beets, on account 

 of its richness, and it recovers without difficulty after having been 

 fed off, and its second growth of stalks and leaves answers the pur- 

 pose of a second course of feeding. 



Profitable Pasturage for Sheep It must be kept in 

 view that the soil of the sheep pasture must be dry. The adage that 

 " the sheep must have a dry root," cannot be gainsaid. The grasses 

 which are referred to under the head of cattle feeding are also good 

 for sheep pasture. Parsley is eaten voraciously by sheep, as are also 

 wormwood and yarrow, and these may advantageously be introduced 

 into the pasturage, as they are supposed by shepherds to act as spe- 

 cifics for or preventives against foot-rot and red-water. Buffalo 

 grass is also a favorite and profitable food for sheep. It gives 

 mutton a fine flavor and makes it tender. Prairie mesquito-grass, 



