210 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



ranged that even without the screens they entirely shut out the north and 

 west winds the prevailing and severe winter ones of this regionand if 

 other ones are more prevalent in other regions, the sheds can be changed 

 accordingly. Each of the sheds is 50 feet long and 12 feet wide six 

 square feet being the smallest proper allowance of sheltered area for eacr 

 sheep. The barn is 48 feet square, a floor 13 feet wide running east ace 

 west through the center, for shearing and for the drawing in of hay. An 

 alley 4 feet wide and 8 feet high (boaided up on the side toward the 

 mow, and covered at the top) cuts off the lower part of each bay from the 

 east wall of the barn. This is for carrying hay into the yards b, c. It is 

 carried into the yards d, e,from the large doors at each end of the shearing- 

 floor (or from smaller ones cut through them.) The south bay is repre- 

 sented as divided by a temporary fence, cutting it into two pensj^ g. The 

 outside inclosure c, for yarding the sheep, communicating by a door with 

 f t and g being used as a room to tie up wool in, presents precisely the 

 same arrangement which is exhibited in the cut of the shearing-barn 

 (fig. 22) in Letter XII. 



The barn here given (fig. 46) is probably larger than would be neces- 

 sary for 400 sheep, in most parts of the South. Its necessary size is a 

 question to be entirely determined by the climate. For large flocks of 

 sheep, I should regard the storage of some hay or other fodder for winter 

 as an indispensable precautionary measure, at least, in any part of the 

 United States ; and, other things being equal, the farther north, or the more 

 elevated the land, the greater would be the necessary amount to be stored. 



The shearing-floor shortened to 30 or 35 feet, would still, perhaps, be 

 sufficiently commodious, and this would reduce the dimensions of the barn 

 east and west 13 or 18 feet ; and one of the bays might be dispensed with. 

 But having constructed so large, so smooth, and so tight a barn-floor as 

 the shearing one ought to be, it would be good economy to use it for the 

 threshing of grain. One of the bays, therefore, might be used for the 

 storage of grain in the sheaf. I have always considered this an excellent 

 arrangement in a Northern barn of this description, as in our cold climate 

 the sheep require much straw litter in their sheds, yards, &c. Thrown 

 out to them daily, as threshed, much bright straw and chaff will be con- 

 sumed by them particularly of greenish cut oats. 



The yards c, e, in fig. 46 are represented but the width of the barn, 48 

 feet. If these were reduced too much, by diminishing the size of the barn, 

 the shed of c could be carried farther west at^', and that of e farther north 

 at i, being connected with the bam by wind-breakers, composed of a tight 

 board fence, as high as the summit of the sheds. Or, what would perhaps 

 be better, the fences thrown forward in a straight line from the ends of 

 these two sheds might be continued until they intersected each other, and 

 a fence from their point of intersection to the south-east corner of the barn 

 would divide the two yards. 



FEEDING SHEEP WITH OTHER STOCK. Sheep should not run or be fed, 

 in yards, with any other stock. Cattle hook them, often mortally. Colts 

 tease and frequently injure them. It is often said that " colts will pick up 

 what sheep leave." Well-managed sheep rarely^ leave anything and if 

 they chance to, it is better to rake it up and throw it into the colts'yard, 

 chan to feed them together. If sheep are not required to eat their feeds 

 pretty clean, they will soon learn to waste large quantities. But if sheep 

 are overfed with either hay or grain, it is not proper to compel them by 

 starvation to come back and eat it. They will not unless sorely pinchei 

 fUean out the troughs, or rake up the hay, and the next time feed less. 



