258 MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 



DESCRIPTION OF FIGURE 2. 



BY RICHARD MORGAN, OF AURORA, CAYUGA CO., N. Y. 



I have adopted the plan of bringing all of the buildings upon the farm into ono 

 compact body instead of being scattered promiscuously over the farm. You will 

 discover that I have drawn four sheep- barns in connection with each other, a de- 

 scription of one of which will answer for all. Sheep barn No. 1 is a building^/fy 

 feet in length by ticenty in width, with fifteen feet posts, the first room or sheep 

 room to be sbc feet and a half in height from the bottom of the sill to the floor. A 

 tight floor overhead to keep oi« all dust and seed. The sheep are to be on the 

 ground, it being better than a floor of wood. A pen tliree feet high, and to contain 

 a space equal to five or six feet square, to be placed as ^shown by the letter P on 

 ground plan, for receiving the hay when pitched from the mow, that the sheep may 

 not trample upon it, and for holding the surplus hay that may be pitched from the 

 mow. A rack for hay, grain, and roots, to extend entirely around the barn, except- 

 ing at the doors ; one door opening into the interior yard and one into the outer 

 yard. The outer yard, in which the sheep are to go into, for their daily exercise, 

 extends around the barns upon three sides, to be subdivided into small yards for 

 the acconmiodation of each flock ; to be enclosed by a fence five or six feet high, 

 close boarded ; the division fences are each to have a gate near the barn for passing 

 with a team, as the barns are to be filled with hay from that side ; yards No. 1 and 

 4 are thirty-five feet by fifty ; Nos. 2 and 3 are thirty-five by eighty-five feet. The 

 mow is surticient for twelve or fourteen tons of hay each. The'^sheds, if built all at 

 a time, may be divided by a fence between flocks, and the mow be left all in one. 



Each sheep barn gives room for one hundred sheep ; fifteen inches of rack for 

 each sheep ; suflicient room for all to lie down in, without being too much crowded ; 

 the room should be well ventilated by funnels running up through the roof, or by 

 windows near the upper floor, with blinds, or slats. The barn I believe to be a 

 good size for one hundred sheep, but to those who are willing to add two or three 

 feet more in width, in order to give an alley between the sides of the barn and 

 racks, would find it convenient and profitable ;— but with the size given there would 

 not be suflicient room. I will give you a description of the barn and carriage room 

 attached. The barn, carnage-house, and stable, occupies thirty-five by one hun- 

 dred feet ; K, is a granary for oats ; J, is a bay for oats in the sheaf; a cellar under 

 both for roots, with stairs at S, to enter the cellar, to be closed by a trap door, to be 

 hung with hinges ; I, is threshing floor ; G, is bay for hay ; H, is a stable for four 

 cows or oxen ; a passage way leads from the stable into the barn floor ; a small 

 door opens out of the stable into the yard; a small door also, from the threshing 

 floor, with large door in front for driving in with hay and grain: the whole occu- 

 pies forty-four feet of the building ; F, is a covered road-way into the yard, twelve 

 feet in width; D, is a grain room for the horses; C, is the horse stable with five 

 stalls, racks for hay and grain, &c.; B, is an alley, for mixing feed, enclosed tight to keep 

 dust and dirt out of the wagon-room ; O, is stairs leading into the hay mow ; A, is 

 carriage room, a deposit for farm implements, &c. A tight floor covers the carriage 

 room and stable, leaving the room nine feet in the clear. At N, sUiirs lead into a 

 room for storing wool. Let a room of suflicient size be partitioned off" in the loft, 

 and be made tight against rats, mice, and dust, lighted by a window in the end of 

 the barn. Let there be a window or door at each end of the mow for filling the 

 same with hay. When the sheep are to be shorn let them be housed in sheep 

 barn No. 1 ; let the wagon and tool room be cleared out for the purpose, and be 

 used for a shearing room ; V, V, V, are tables, or leaves made smooth, and to be hung 

 with hinges to the side of the room near the floor, to be used for shearing upon, 

 eight and a half feet wide ; when not in use to be fastened back against the side of 

 the room, taking up but two inches of the room ; the roller to place his table in 

 such a place near the stairs, that he may throw the fleece, when tied up, directly 

 into the wool loft; let there be a trap door in the wool loft for sacking the wool. 

 The sheep, when "fleeced," may be turned into the interior yard. If the barns 

 cannot be supplied with water by pii)es, let the well be dug as shown in the yard. 

 Yard No. 5 would answer a good purpose for fowls, and yard No. 6 for the hog- 

 pen, or if needed, erect a shelter, and keep the bucks safe from the other sheep, or 

 such other purpose as may be most convenient. The interior yard is fifty by sixty 

 feet, and may be used for young cattle. I should have given the height of the 

 barn and carriage house, which is eighteen feet posts. The expense of erecting 

 one sheep barn would be about ."JloO. The expense of erecting all of the buildings 

 would be about eight or ten hundred dollars, depending entirely upon the price of 

 lumber, and of labor. 



