WESTERN LAMB FEEDING 301 



of these feeding barns is the racks in which hay and 

 grain are fed. These are permanent and divide the 

 floor into small pens, say 16'xl6'. Each pen holds 

 about 40 lambs. Water is in each pen, commonly 

 in a clay tile or sewer pipe, all of which are filled 

 by use of one float valve somewhere in the barn. 

 The barns do not often freeze in cold weather. The 

 peculiar thing about the racks is that each one has 

 an open end connecting with a feedalley, so that a 

 man can walk in and sweep it out and put in the 

 feed. The racks are two feet or less in width, and 

 the floors are tight. Lambs eat through a long hor- 

 izontal opening in the side of the rack through 

 which they thrust their heads. This opening is 

 readily closed by lifting a board that just fills the 

 space. The board is lifted by means of a lever to 

 which are attached cords that run forward over 

 pulleys. This may sound complicated, but really it 

 is very simple. In operation the feeder first pulls 

 his levers and shuts the lambs away from the racks, 

 then walking in sweeps them clean. He then puts 

 in the feed, both grain and hay, and perhaps silage, 

 after which a pull of the levers raises the boards 

 that have closed the openings in the sides of the 

 racks. At once whole lines of lambs thrust in their 

 heads and all begin eating. The levers are locked 

 to hold the boards safely in place when the racks 

 are open. The one inconvenience of this arrange- 

 ment is that the manure must be thrown out 

 through windows or by the use of carriers. When 

 all in a neighborhood adopt a scheme of this kind 



