60 MANNER OF FEEDING SHEEP. 



A. The quantity of hay necessary for a sheep de- 

 pends, like the quantity of straw, on the size of the an- 

 imal and the quality of the hay. It is proper to give 

 every day to a middling sized sheep two pounds of 

 common hay, taken from a good meadow. This 

 quantity is sufficient, if care is taken to put back 

 what falls from the rack. Each sheep eats every day, 

 according to experiments, which were made near 

 Montbard, two pounds of hay, leaving three ounces : 

 there will remain more or less according as the hay 

 may be finer or coarser, than that which was employ- 

 ed in the experiment. A bundle of hay, therefore, of 

 ten pounds may be considered sufficient for five 

 sheep, if what remains be replaced in the rack. 



Q. In winters, when there is no snow to prevent 

 sheep from going to pasture in the field, will straw 

 then be sufficient for them ? 



A. This food will answer until January, in coun- 

 tries where the winter is severe, because there is then 

 rarely good grass in the fields. To make up for it, 

 it will be proper to mix a little hay or other food with 

 the straw, such as the chaff of peas, beans, vetches, 

 and lentils. It has been remarked for a long time, 

 that the chaff of beans is drier than that of peas, and 

 that it must be given to sheep in the evening, in moist 

 and rainy weather. 



Q. At what season is fodder discontinued ? 



A. In the spring, when the sheep begin to find a 

 sufficient quantity of herbage in the fields for their 

 support ; and when they are round and well filled, on 

 returning to the fold in the evening : but as long as 





