FROM WEANING TO MARKET. 273 



cases the sheepfold is a necessity, and we must manage as well 

 as we can. This is especially the case on light-land farms, or 

 where the buildings are far off. Occasionally, when the weather 

 is unusually wet, it may answer to litter the fold with straw, 

 which helps to keep the poor animals out of the dirt ; but in 

 these days the article is too scarce for such use. Sometimes 

 things come to such a pass that the removal of the sheep to a 

 piece of dry grass or seeds that are to be broken up is absolutely 

 necessary. Here there should be a provision of roots, so that 

 no serious loss of condition occurs ; but, as a rule, sheep always 

 suffer, and therefore it is best to keep them where they are if 

 it can be schemed. An increase of dry and nourishing food 

 helps to counteract the evil, and it is really astonishing how, 

 when well tended, they manage to hold on, in spite of counter- 

 acting influences. We have found a liberal supply of rock salt, 

 which should be placed in covered boxes about a foot from the 

 ground, tends to promote healthy digestion. 



Towards spring Long-wooUed sheep are often seriously incon- 

 venienced by the clots or balls of hard mud, which hang to the 

 wool, and not only make progression a labour, but chafe and 

 irritate the skin. These should be removed, and some help 

 should be supplied for this extra work. 



Now it is that the sheep consume the maximum quantity of 

 food, and require attention early and late. When we find them 

 lying down, often stretched out at full length, and only up 

 when feeding or at the change of food, we may rest assured 

 they are thriving ; but this is generally pretty evident from the 

 appearance of the animal, and especially the condition of the 

 wool; indeed, the latter is immediately affected by adverse 

 circumstances, and regular feeding is just as necessary for the 

 development of wool as of carcass. 



In the above remarks we have taken it for granted that the 

 best way of preparing the root crop was by the ordinary 

 Gardner's turnip cutter, which reduces the root into strips three 

 or four inches long by three-quarters in cube. We are not 

 prepared, however, to maintain that this is so. Our own 

 experience with ewes wintered on grass, and the experience of a 

 friend who has given some attention to the subject, leads us to 

 an opposite conclusion ; and though, at present, there are 



T 



