1/6 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



Grazing sheep on grass pastures One of the most 

 important things about grazing sheep on grass pastures 

 is to adapt the breed or grade to the character of the pas- 

 tures. It would seem correct to say : (i) That the weight 

 of the sheep grazed on pastures may be decreased with in- 

 crease in the range and decrease in the abundance of its 

 production. (2) That sheep not too short in limb and 

 too compact in form can graze more easily on rugged and 

 sparse pastures than sheep of the opposite type. (3) 

 That light and small breeds grazed for successive 

 generations on abundant pastures will increase in size, 

 but heavy breeds grazed on sparse pastures will soon 

 become a wreck. The reasons for the above will be obvi- 

 ous. A light breed will readily gather food on sparse 

 pastures. This a heavy breed cannot do, because of its 

 heaviness. Nature has taught this lesson plainly in the 

 great difference in the size of the mountain breeds and 

 the heavy breeds grown on seaside marsh lands. 



The grazing of sheep on the arable farms cannot be 

 successfully conducted without fencing. The absence of 

 fences on so many of the grain farms of the west and the 

 cost of constructing these is a great hindrance to the 

 more general introduction of sheep onto those farms. 

 Suitable fencing for sheep when made of wire is a little 

 more costly than will suffice for cattle, and the material 

 more commonly used in future for such fencing will be 

 woven wire. When barbed wire fences are made for cat- 

 tle, posts set two rods distant, and three wires, will make 

 a fence sufficient to confine cattle not materially unruly. 

 A fence of the same material to confine sheep would an- 

 swer the purpose better when the posts are set more fre- 

 quently, and it would call for not less than five barb 

 wires. 



One of the best forms of fencing for sheep is made of 

 some kind of woven wire with one or more strands of 

 barb wire strung on the posts above the woven wire. 

 Such a fence should usually be erected on an elevation 



