58 Sheep Feeding. 



i 



such things as scrub, bushes, leaves of trees, etc. In 

 the winter time the Shetland breed of sheep supports 

 itself on seaweed and shell fish, and a Nova Scotian 

 coastal wild sheep descended from a domesticated breed, 

 does practically likewise. The salt bushes of Australia 

 are a great reserve for sheep during droughty times. 

 But such things as scrub, bushes, etc., quite inferior as 

 they may be for the domesticated sheep, are not gene- 

 rally available on the fenced-in sheep farm, and an 

 experienced sheep farmer, recognising seasonal necessi- 

 ties, counts all this, and figures out according to local 

 conditions that the cost of growing such immeasurably 

 superior things as roots, hay,, oats, catch crops, is well 

 recouped by condition saving and making. Money and 

 time are conserved ; the farm carries more stock, and it 

 stands appraised accordingly. With the ewe, for in- 

 stance, if it is not properly looked after and fed not 

 overfed, for fat-feeding a breeding ewe or any female 

 breeding animal is a mistake its growth, robustness, 

 fertility, wool and mutton transmitting qualities, will be 

 affected, and its descendants will not rejoice in improved 

 physique or constitution. 



Proper and change food, according to the season's 

 requirements, has a marked, immediate, and ulterior 

 effect on the profitableness of sheep farming, and grow- 

 ing fodders when weather conditions are favourable to 

 their growth, and feeding them when weather conditions 

 are unfavourable to the sheep's growth, is the acme of 

 scientific sheep farming, for it harnesses the sun and other 

 elements in favour of the farmer. There is quite ob- 

 viously an artificiality about the treatment and pro- 

 sperity of a domesticated animal at any time, and no- 

 thing is so consonant with that treatment as providing 

 artificial foods when conditions emphatically suggest 

 their use. The sheep is a good animal exemplar of high 

 profits for good treatment, and low profits for bad treat- 

 ment. It can withstand cold and exposure well provid- 



