THE GENESEE FARMER. 



49 



may be cleaned as often as necessary. "We do not 

 elevate the floor above the ground, but simply bed 

 the sleepers in the ground, on which we lay the 

 [ilaiik, having the edges made straight so that the 

 tluir. vvill be tight; and we do not then lose the 

 ni:inure under the floor. Were we feeding but few 

 slii't-p, and those of about equal age and size, we 

 wi.iild partition the trough into spaces of eighteen 

 ii.i lies, enabling us to have our sheep fatten very 

 .'veuly, by giving each his share of the grain. This, 

 hiiweVer, is attended with a little more trouble in 

 fiAiltng, as we can not as readily deal out by the 

 pint or quart as by stringing it along wholesale. 

 .M.ike the slats and side of the trough, etc., sufti- 

 oi.iitly sniootli tliat the sheep may not tear their 

 wiml when tliey come in contact with them. 



It will-be seen that our plan is not for large-horned 

 flu ep, as we never feed that kind. If sheep have 

 only small horns, we saw them ofl". We do not, as 

 wc can nut always. get them, confine ourselves to 

 one particular breed or kind, but rest satisfied with 

 selecting those of good flesh, from three to five 

 years of age, and as nearly of a size as possible. 

 Ii' we have not raised them, we purchase in the 

 early part of the fall, that they nuxy get domesti- 

 cated, or, in other words, become acquainted with 

 the ju'emises tliey are to occupy. This is essential, 

 as there are generally some shy ones which require 

 a little attention to have them work in evenly. 



As soon as the grass in the fields begins to lose 

 its virtue by the frosts. of autumn, begi^ to give 

 them a little grain where they are, say corn, beans, 

 pieas, barley, etc., whicli they will soon learn to 

 eat very well. This will not only prevent tlieir 

 I'ising flesh, but they will take it on, and it is 

 umch cheaper to do it at this season of the year 

 than later, when the weather becomes colder. 

 Whenever the cold rains set in, be sure and 

 call them to the sheds already provided for them, 

 land if they do not take readily to them, use a little 

 ingenuity to familiarize them thereto. As cold 

 weather increases, increase the amount of grain, 

 until you find how much they require — feeding all 

 the good clover hay they will eat. We have found 

 corn-fodder, obtained from sowing corn so thick 

 that the blades do not grow too large, to be equal 

 to clover hay for feeding sheep, with this draw- 

 back: that the manure is not as rich in wheat- 

 growing material as that made from feeding clover. 



Let us here say that we have sometimes fed beans, 

 and the result has always been satisfactory. We 

 reckon one bushel of beans equal to one and one- 

 fourth bushels of corn. We think a very advan- 

 tageous way of feeding sheep with beans, is to pull 

 and stack them before they are quite ripe, and when 

 they are just cured in the stack, remove them to 

 the sheds and feed without threshing. In this way 

 the sheep eat all except the very roots. In our 

 feeding sheep for the slaughter, we have been con- 

 fined to the following grains: corn, beans and peas; 

 and can not, therefore, speak experimentally of 

 other grains. 



Let it be understood that we are speaking of 

 sheep worth the feeding, as we hold that small 

 sheep for slaughtering are unprofitable. At all 

 events, we have never made the little Merino, with 

 his thin chest, narrow hips, and cat-made hams, 

 pay for the feeding. We have found that a sheep 

 four years old and weighing one hundred and fifty 



lbs., would consume about one and one-fourth lbs. 

 of hay and a quart of corn per day; and, if not 

 neglected in any particular, will make about thirty 

 lbs., live weight, in four months, say one hundred 

 and twenty days. Thus we see that in the one 

 hundred and twenty days, a sheep oats one hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds of hay, and three and three- 

 fourths bushels of corn. Pretty costly thirty lbs., 

 indeed, were we to go no further in our reckoning. 

 But we must not stop here. We have found in 

 eight winters we have fed sheep, that, six out of the 

 eight, sheep were worth twice as much per lb. in 

 the months of March and April as in October and 

 November preceding. So, if wo pay on the first 

 of December three cents per lb. for a sheep weigh- 

 ing one hundred and fifty lbs., four dollars and fifty 

 cents, and first of April sell the sheep, then weigh- 

 ing one hundred and eighty lbs., for six cents per 

 lb., that is, ten dollars and eighty cents, we have a 

 fair remuneration for money invested. Corn with 

 us has been worth an average .of sixty cents per 

 bushel, taking the past eight years. From this we 

 find that three and three-fourths bushels of corn 

 costs two dollars and twenty-five cents. The one 

 hundred and fifty lbs. of hay, at eight dollars per 

 ton is sixty cents. 



Sheep sold for 510 80 



One hundred and fifiy lbs. hay $0 60 



Three and tliree-fourihs bushels corn 2 25 



Cost of sheep 4 50 



7 35 



Gain. 



$3 45 



Premising that the manure made amply pays for 

 trouble of feeding, care, etc. 



Some may perhaps think that the amount of hay 

 in the above estimate is very small ; but we have 

 found, by actual measurement, reckoning four hun- 

 dred cubic feet of well settled hay in the mow for 

 a ton, that in feeding one quart of corn per day, it 

 is all that a sheep of one hundred and fifty lbs. will 

 consume. We wish it understood, that when we 

 are speaking of hay, we do not mean dry, woody 

 substances, worth to feed sheep about as much as a 

 brush fence, but which some pack in their barns 

 and denominate hay. We have sometimes fed a 

 few potatoes and turnips in the early part of the 

 winter, before the weather became severely cold, 

 but consider them of too cold and watery a nature 

 to be fed with profit when the weather is very 

 freezing. 



We will here give the statistics of a few winters 

 feeding. In the fall of 1850, we purchased eighty 

 sheep at two dollars and twenty-five cents per 

 head, which was about two and a quarter cents 

 per lb. We "bought both hay and corn to feed 

 them— hay at eight dollars per ton, and corn at 

 fifty cents per bushel; and, in feeding them eighty 

 days, they consumed four tons of hay and one 

 hundred bushels of corn. At the end of eighty 

 days, we sold them, to be delivered in Buftalo, at 

 four dollars per head, amounting to $320. 



Sheep sold for $320 00 



Cost of sheep $180 00 



Four tons of hay 32 00 



One hundred bushels corn 50 00 



Kxpeiiue of driving to Buffalo 9 00 



271 00 



Showing a gain of $49 00 



We would here say that these sheep were fed in 

 the open field, and had only the care of a boy 



