94 



House-feeding Sheep. 



Vol. XII. 



could not be objectionable, considering the 

 object to be obtained. 



I am very respectfully, sir, 



Your obedient servant, 



G. S. GuiLLIARD. 



From the London Gardeners' Chronicle. 

 House-feeding Sheep. 



I HAVE two houses for feeding sheep, the 

 one containing 140 stalls, and the other 150. 

 My system has been now several years in 

 operation, and answers my fullest expecta- 

 tions. 



The great principle upon which I relied 

 when I commenced it, was that safe and 

 certain one, that in proportion as an animal 

 is kept warm, clean, well fed, — in other 

 words, comfortable in every respect, — it will 

 improve in flesh and in fat, and will be likely 

 to repay the attention of the feeder. This 

 principle had been safely applied to other 

 animals — to the ox, the swine, the horse, the 

 dog — to many of the wild animals — and, 

 what furnished a still stronger illustration, 

 to birds — for the careful housewife invaria- 

 bly coops her poultry. The ordinary process 

 of reasoning assured me that the same causes 

 which were operative upon other animals, 

 would be as certainly operative upon the 

 sheep, and the result has fiilly justified the 

 opinion. 



My sheep are confined in stalls, the dimen- 

 sions of which I need not give, because it is 

 obvious that they must be regulated by the 

 ordinary size of the breed to which they are 

 to be appropriated. It is enough to say that 

 they should -not be so large as to enable the 

 animal to turn round and dirty the trough. 

 Each sheep is confined by a leathern collar, 

 attached to a slight chain, of the size of a 

 small dog chain, furnished with a couple of 

 swivels, sufficiently long to secure comfort 

 to the animal, but not long enough to hang 

 back beyond the division of his stall, and to 

 interfere with his neighbour. At the head 

 of each sheep is a trough, for the purpose of 

 holding turnips, at one end of which is a 

 division for chaff, bruised corn, linseed-cake, 

 or other food of the kind. Above the trough 

 is a small rack for vetches, clover, or other 

 long food. 



In one of my houses a small cast-iron 

 water trough is appropriated to every two 

 sheep, the entire number of troughs being 

 laid upon a level, and supplied from a tank 

 furnished with a ball-cock. 



Under each row of animals is a recepta- 

 cle for the manure, formed of brick laid in 

 cement. It is about two feet deep, and as 

 much in breadth, and is covered by an oaken 



grating. A receptacle of these dimensions 

 requires emptying about once in ten weeks. 

 The sheep stand back to back, with an inter- 

 val between the rows suffieient to allow the 

 barrows, for feeding and for carrying away 

 the manure, to pass freely through the house, 

 and this passage is laid so far below the 

 level of the gratings as to admit of any dirt 

 dropped in the path being swept into the 

 manure tanks on either side. 



The whole of the openings in the stalls 

 are secured by shutters, which in cold wea- 

 ther are closed entirely at night, and which 

 are opened, more or less, according to the 

 weather, during the day. 



Gypsum is occasionally scattered along 

 the paths, and swept into the tanks; and in 

 the absence of gypsum, peat or other vege- 

 table ash, which we find answer a good pur- 

 pose. 



So essential do I consider warmth, that if 

 I were in a coal country I should be inclined 

 to regulate the heat of my ox and sheep 

 houses as we do that of our conservatories — 

 by artificial heat; and I think it probable 

 that the feeder would be repaid by glazing 

 the openings left for light. 



My sheep are generally very healthy, and 

 thrive fast; but in this respect they differ 

 very much. In some very rare instances 

 individuals have gained a pound a day live 

 weight. In many instances the average 

 gain, upon a large number, has exceeded 

 three pounds a head per week; but the more 

 general average is about two and a half 

 pounds. It is obvious that the breed and 

 quality of the sheep, the age, the sex, the 

 season, the weather, the food, are all in- 

 volved in this question. And so in refer- 

 ence to the time occupied in making out 

 the sheop for the butcher. Upon this point 

 it is enough for me to say that the advantage 

 of stall feeding over the open fold is im- 

 mense ; and it will be, of course, greater or 

 less in proportion as the farm is one in which 

 the soil and the exposure are more or less 

 favourable to the well-doing of stock, and 

 to the feeding off the turnip crop. 



The manure is of first-rate quality, and 

 especially valuable for the drill; not infe- 

 rior, as I think, to the best guano, made as 

 it is under cover, and containing as it does 

 all the chemical properties of the urine, in 

 admixture with the solid manure. My usual 

 custom has hitherto been to use it with the 

 addition of some bone, either in the raw 

 state, or recently in that of superphosphate. 

 I may add that under this system the growth 

 of wool is very rapid, fully corresponding to 

 that of the carcass. 



I have thus told you everything which 

 occurs to me as useful to be known by those 



