SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH N 



The singular difference stated in the'Table, between the amount of wool 

 produced by " good hay," and " hay with straw without other fodder," J 

 confess is scarcely credible to me. It may be a misprint in the Table from 

 which I copy. 



The peculiar value of pease not only in increasing the wool, where they 

 rank jrs,* but in the average comparative increase which they produce in 

 all the tissues, is again worthy of notice. 



EFFECT OF FOOD IN PRODUCING FAT AND MUSCLE. The increase of fat 

 and muscle, as of wool, depends upon the nature of the food. It would 

 be foreign from my purpose to enter into an elaborate theoretical exam- 

 ination of this subject. Liebig, in Parts I. and II. of his Animal Chemis- 

 try, has covered the whole ground, and to him I take the liberty to refei 

 you. Mr. Spooner, writing for England, w r here the production of flesh 

 and fat is the primary object of Sheep Husbandry, has given a synopsis 

 of Liebig's positions, analyses, &c., in his chapter (XXI.) on Feeding and 

 Fattening and the substance of this is again repeated by Mr. Morrell in 

 his chapters on the same subjects, in The American Shepherd. To either 

 of the latter I would refer you for sufficient details for practical purposes, 

 or fovfull information, to Liebig. 



The Tables of Boussingault and Reaumur, already given, (Tables 17 and 

 18,) sufficiently indicate the value of the various grains, straw, roots, &c., 

 in fattening. 



It is not very common, in the North, for wool-growers to fatten their 

 wethers, for market, by extra winter feeding. Some give them a little 

 more generous keep the winter before they are to be turned off, and then 

 sell them when they have attained their maximum fatness the succeeding 

 fall. When winter fattening is attempted, sheep require warm, dry shel- 

 ters, and should receive, in addition to all the hay they will eat, meal twice 

 a day in troughs or meal once and chopped roots once. The equivalent 

 of from half a pint to a pint of (yellow) corn meal per head per diem is 

 about as much as ordinary flocks of Merino wethers will profitably con- 

 sume, though in selected flocks consisting of large animals, this amount is 

 frequently exceeded. 



FEEDING GRAIN TO STORE-SHEEP IN WINTER. The expediency of feed- 

 ing grain to store-sheep in winter depends much upon circumstances. If 

 in a climate where they can obtain a proper supply of grass or other green 

 esculents, it would, of course, be unnecessary. Neither is it a matter of 

 necessity where the ground is frozen or covered with snow for weeks or 

 months, provided the sheep be supplied plentifully with good dry fodder. 

 Near markets where the coarse grains find a good and ready sale, it is not 

 usual in the North, to feed grain. Remote from markets, it is generally 

 frd by the holders of large flocks. Oats are commonly preferred, and 

 they are fed at the rate of a gill a head per day. Some feed half the 

 same amount of (yellow) corn. Fewer sheep particularly lambs, year- 

 lings, and crones get thin and perish, where they receive a daily feed of 

 grain; they consume less hay ; and their fleeces are increased in weigJit. 

 On the whole, therefore, it is considered good economy. Where no grain 

 is fed, three daily feeds of hay are given. It is a common and very good 

 practice to feed greenish cut oats in ike bundle, at noon, and give but two 

 feeds of hay one at morning and one at night. A few feed greenish 

 cut peas in the same way. In warm, thawing weather when sheep get 



* With the exception of " hay and straw " the given product of which, in wool, I have already slate4 

 must undoubtedly be misprinted. 



