272 THE SHEEP OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



avoided. The animals eat too much, blood is made fast, and a 

 black scour sets in. We have known great mortality in this 

 way, which we are convinced might have been avoided had the 

 food been introduced more gradually. Supposing that the food 

 is being cut (and we can hardly suppose that sheep for the 

 butcher will be allowed to waste their forces in gnawing), nothing 

 is easier than to mix a few loads of swedes with the last acre or 

 so of turnips, even if it is not practicable to grow a few together. 

 Such a precaution will be most advantageous, preventing that 

 check which may be anticipated when food is changed. It is 

 very possibly owing to such check that the mischief occurs ; for 

 when the food is taken to, the animals eat more than is good. 

 Of course to some extent we can regulate the supply, but we 

 cannot muzzle the greedy animals. The use of sweet hay, and 

 especially good sainfoin, has a tendency to promote health ; but 

 few can spare such material, which is wanted for the ewes after 

 lambing. We believe that hay supplied in covered racks helps 

 the sheep at this critical time, but it is not an economical way 

 of using such food. The chaff-cutter allows of a due admixture 

 of straw ; and if finely cut and sifted, a good deal of dry food 

 may be coaxed down, especially if the artificial is mixed with it. 



The progress of the sheep depends not only upon the quality 

 of the food but upon the nature of the land and the character 

 of the season. A dry lair is very important, and in wet weather, 

 if a damp lair is added to a moist jacket, much of the food is 

 required to maintain the temperature of the body, and progress 

 is out of the question. We are satisfied that in such weather 

 on all but the driest land sheep would do far better housed. 

 And it is a question worth deciding by experiment whether 

 house feeding might not be more frequently adopted with 

 advantage than is the case. It is neither necessary nor desirable 

 to have the building entirely closed : one side might be open so 

 as to insure plenty of air. 



Great care must be taken of the feet, otherwise the walls of 

 the hoof grow long and cause serious lameness. All this is 

 matter of detail. In a wet winter sheep on good-bodied land 

 suffer terribly from the state of the ground, and it is only as 

 the days lengthen and the surface dries up that decided progress 

 is visible and the fattening goes on well. Of course in many 



