166 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



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 prmciple upon which I relied, 

 when I commenced it, was that safe and cer- 

 tain one, that in proportion as an animal is 

 kept warm, clean, well fed, (in other words, 

 comfortable ur'eveiy 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 fur- 

 nished a still stronger illustration, to birds — 

 for the careful housewife invariably coops 

 her poultry. The ordinary process of reason- 

 ing assured me that the same causes which 

 were operative upon other animals would be 

 as certainly operative upon the sheep, and 

 the result has fully 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 or- 

 dinary size of the breed to which they aie 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, suf- 

 ficiently long to secure comfort to the aniinal, 

 but not long enough to hang back beyond the 

 di\'ision of his stall, and to interfere with his 

 neighbor. At the head of each sheep is a 

 ti'ough, for the pui-pose of holding turnips, at 

 one end of wliich is a division for chaff, bruised 

 com, linseed-cake, or other ibod 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 ai:)propriated 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 recejjtacle 

 for the manure, formed of brick laid in ce- 

 ment. It is about two feet deep, and as much 

 in breadth, and is covered by an oaken grat- 

 ing. A receptacle of these dimensions re- 

 quires emptying about once in ten weeks. 

 The sheep stand back to back, with an inter- 

 val between the rows sufficient to allow the 

 barrovi's, for feeding and for carrying away 

 the manure, to pass Ireely 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, whicli^ in cold \veather 

 are closed entirely at night, and which are 

 opened, more or less, according to the weather, 

 durins: the day. 

 ^(358) 



Gypsum is occasionally scattered along 

 the paths, and swept into the tanks; and, 

 in the absence of gypsum, peat or other 

 vegetable ash, which we find answer a good 

 purpose. 



So essential do I consider wannth, tliat 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 arti- 

 ficial heat ; and I think it proliable that the 

 feeder would be repaid by glazing the open- 

 ings left for light. 



My sheep are generally very healthy, and 

 thrive fast ; but in this respect tliey differ 

 veiy much. In some very rare instances in- 

 dividuals 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 gen- 

 eral average is about two and a half pounds. 

 It is obvious that the breed and C[nality of the 

 sheep, .the age, the sex, the season, the 

 weather, the food, are all involved in this 

 question. And so in reference to the time 

 occupied in making out the sheep for the 

 liutcher. Upon this point it is enough for me 

 to_say that the advantage oi' stall-feeding over 

 the open ibid is immense ; and it will be, of 

 course, greater or less in proportion as the 

 farm is one in which the soil and the expo- 

 sure are more or less favorable to the well- 

 doing of stock, and to the feeding-off the tur- 

 nip crop. 



The manure is of first-rate quality, and es- 

 pecially valuable for the drill ; not inferior, 

 as I think, to the best guano, made as it is 

 under cover, and containing as it does all the 

 j chemical properties of the urine, in admix- 

 ture with the solid manure. My usual cus- 

 tom has hitherto been to use it with the addi- 

 tion of some bone, either in the raw state, or 

 recently in that of superphosphate. I may 

 add that under this system the gi-owth of 

 wool is very rapid, fully corresponding to 

 that of the carcass. 



I have thus told you everythmg which oc- 

 curs to me as usei'ul to be known Ijy those 

 who may wish to cany into effect my method 

 of feeding. RICHARD SIMEON. 



Sicainston, Isle of Wight, Feb. 23. 

 W. C. Si'ooNEB, Esq. 



There are now before the public the details 

 of three methods of shed-feeding sheep — the 

 system of box or pen-feeding adopted by Mr. 

 Huxtable, the method of stall-feeding prac- 

 ticed by Sir Richard Simeon, Bart., and the 

 plan of having movable houses in the turnip- 

 field reconnnended by other gentlemen. Each 

 system seems to have peculiar advantages as 

 well as disadvantages, but ^11 agree in the 

 economical manufacture and expenditure of 

 the maimre. w. C. .SPOONER. 



[London Gardeners' Chronicle. 



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