300 MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



At the Ohio Experiment Station, where corn, ensilage and 

 field beets have been compared in feeding dairy cattle, the beets 

 have caused the best gains in weight of cows, size of milk flow 

 and production of butter fat. In the feeding of sheep also they 

 have proved highly satisfactory. 



In 1789 an English baron Sir Eichard Sutton described 

 what Arthur Young, the great agricultural writer, pronounced 

 an exceedingly curious method of folding sheep. He said : "There 

 is almost every year a very ' pinching time for sheep, particularly 

 when the spring is cold and dry with a long continuance of east- 

 erly winds. In this case, when the turnips are eaten off and the 

 grass seeds not yet come in, there is a great distress for feed. It 

 occurred to me that this interval might be supplied by sprouts of 

 anything of the kale kind. Accordingly, I set with my cabbages 

 some rows of brown and green broccoli and chouy de Milan. We 

 cut the hearts of them in January, which, as they grew to a large 

 size in the strong loam, yielded a great deal of feed, and left some 

 of the outer leaves to draw on the sprouts. In the latter end of 

 March, a very sharp time of frost and snow, my bailiff turned in 

 the ewes and lambs upon the sprouts and found them of great 

 service." 



RYE. 



It seems a little strange that rye is not raised to a greater 

 extent for sheep than it is, since it furnishes one of the most ap- 

 petizing and succulent rations early spring affords. Sown about 

 the same time as wheat or a little later, it makes a good growth 

 and furnishes a more tempting bite than almost anything found 

 on the farm in the spring. Eye can be easily grown without much 

 special preparation of the ground if sown in the cornfield right 

 after the corn is shocked and lightly harrowing it in. Eye is a 

 rapid grower and should not be permitted to get old and woody 

 before being cut or pastured. Care should be used in turning 

 sheep on rye when they are very hungry or the rye heavily charged 

 with moisture, as bloat is likely to result. It will be found better 

 to fence off a portion of the rye field at a time for the sheep, 

 rather than allow them to run over it at will. 



CABBAGE. 



There are few sections in the United States where cabbage 

 will not grow. Of course, in some sections it is grown to greater 

 perfection than in others and it could be used to a greater ad- 

 vantage by American flockmasters than it is at present. Cabbage 

 must be rated among the best foods for sheep of all ages. It is a 

 splendid thing to raise for show sheep, especially when on the 

 circuit. Cabbage has the advantage over rape in that it can be 



