14 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



is legion. But sheep consume weeds much more readily 

 when they are young than when they reach a more advanced 

 stage of growth. Succulence in plants is especially grateful 

 to sheep, and woodiness in the same is equally distasteful to 

 them. For instance, they will readily consume squirrel tail 

 (Hordeum jubatum) and foxtail (Setaria glauca) when 

 young, but when these reach an advanced stage of growth, 

 they will almost starve rather than feed upon them. They 

 show a decided preference for some forms of weed life as 

 compared even with the useful grasses when the former 

 are in the zenith of their succulence. Allow the same weeds 

 to reach the woody stage and they will not eat them. Such 

 are the weeds popularly known as pigweed (Amaranthus 

 hybridus), and lamb's-quarters (Chenopedium album). 



But in many instances, after weeds have become so 

 woody that sheep will not consume them, they will strip 

 them of their leaves and thus prevent them from maturing 

 seeds. There are but few classes of weed seeds that they 

 will not consume when given access to them, hence the im- 

 mense service that they may render in grain fields after the 

 crop has been harvested. Among the exceptions are those 

 protected by stiff hair, as foxtail ; and by prickles and spines, 

 as in the case of the cocklebur (Xanthium canadense) and 

 the sand bur (Cenchrus tribuloides). 



Because of this weed-eating habit, sheep may be made 

 to render much service in pastures, even when gleaning along 

 with other live stock. Many forms of weed life grow amid 

 pastures betimes which cattle and horses will not consume 

 at any stage of their growth. When sheep may have access 

 to these, they trim them down proportionately to their num- 

 bers, and in many instances will in time cause them to dis- 

 appear. In this way such intruders in pastures as briers and 

 bushes of various kinds may be destroyed, as well as plants 

 more properly classified as weeds. In pastures on timber 

 lands newly cleared sheep may be thus made to render most 

 valuable service by destroying the sprouts that grow amid 

 the trees. 



