624 



FEEDING SHEEP ox STRAW. 

 About two years ago I described the means adopted by a 

 Victorian sheep farmer to help his sheep over a bad time. 

 The paddocks were as bare as a road, and he saw that he 

 must provide some fodder for his sheep or lose them all. 

 He had a number of old straw stacks on the place, and he set 

 to work to cut this straw into chaff. To each bag of chaff he 

 added about a pint of molasses mixed with water and sprinkled 

 over the chaff by means of a watering can. The sheep took to 

 this fodder at once and held their condition well on it. Bagging 

 fastened to four strained wires formed the troughs at which the 

 sheep fed. During the present season this plan of feeding sheep 

 has been adopted on many Victorian farms, and many of the 

 owners of large Hocks in Riverina have also made use of it. With 

 a large flock, cutting the straw into chaff is found expensive, and 

 the plan has been adopted of sprinkling the straw in layers as it is 

 placed in the wagon, and a more liberal allowance of molasses is 

 generally given than that previously stated. The straw thus treated 

 is carted into the paddocks and scattered in long lines, and every 

 particle is picked up. It is no exaggeration to say that the lives of 

 many thousands of sheep have been saved this year in Victoria and 

 Riverina by straw and molasses. 



CONSERVATION OF WATER. 



Second only in importance to the securing of an ample store 

 of fodder is the conservation of a good water supply. The means of 

 securing this end vary so greatly in different parts of Australia 

 that it is impossible to give directions as to the mode of procedure 

 that will cover every instance. The usual modes of watering stock 

 in the warmer districts of Australia are by erecting dams on water- 

 courses or by excavating tanks. Over a large area the latter practice 

 has been generally followed. 



THE DAM. 



A dam on a watercourse is a less expensive mode of conserving 

 water than excavating a tank. The main thing is to put up the 

 dam on a good site, and where the soil is holding. But Australian 

 streams are liable to remain waterless during long periods and often 

 suddenly become raging torrents. In making a dam both conditions 

 must be studied. The site of the dam should be chosen below a 

 good-si/cd water hole, if possible, or where a considerable extent 

 of level country will give a good length of back water. 



In Queensland, where the watercourses are frequently empty 

 for considerable periods and heavy floods suddenly occur, it is the 

 practice to construct the dam witli a hollow curve in the centre. 

 These dams arc faced with large stones, where they can be obtained, 

 and floods pass over them, often doing very little harm. I have 

 seen dams made in this way that had stood several very heavy floods 

 and still held good. 





