SHEEP. 85 



through the winter. "Where hay is the principal feed, it may 

 be well, where it is convenient, to give corn-stalks (or 'blades') 

 every fifth or sixth feed, or even once a day ; or the daily feed, 

 not of hay, might alternate between blades, pea-straw, straw 

 of the cereal grains, etc. Should any other fodder besides hay 

 be the principal one, as, for example, corn-blades or pea- 

 haulm, each of the other fodders might be alternated in the 

 same way. It is mainly, in my judgment, a question of conve- 

 nience with the flock-master, provided a proper supply of pal- 

 atable nutriment within a proper compass is given. Hay, 

 clover, properly cured pea-haulm, and corn-blades are palatable 

 to the sheep, and each contain the necessary supply of nutri- 

 ment in the quantity which the sheep can readily take into its 

 stomach. Consequently, from either of these, the sheep can 

 derive its entire subsistence. Sheep should not run or be fed 

 in yards with any other stock. 



" The expediency of feeding grain to store sheep in the win- 

 ter depends upon circumstances. Remote from markets, it is 

 generally fed by the holders of large flocks. Oats are com- 

 monly preferred, and they are fed at the rate of a gill a head 

 per day. Some feed half the same amount of (yellow) corn. 

 Fewer sheep particularly lambs, yearlings, and crones get 

 thin and perish, where they receive a daily feed of grain ; they 

 consume less hay, and their fleeces are increased in weight. 

 On the whole, therefore, it is considered good economy. 

 Where no grain is fed, three daily feeds of hay are given. It is 

 a common and very good practice to feed greenish cut oats in 

 the bundle, at noon, and give but two feeds of hay one at 

 morning and one at night. A few feed greenish cut peas in the 

 same way. In warm, thawing weather, when sheep get to the 

 ground, and refuse dry hay, a little grain assists materially in 

 keeping up their strength and condition. This may furnish a 

 useful hint for many parts of the South. "When the feed is 

 shortest in winter, in the South, there are many localities 

 where sheep would get enough grass to take off their appetite 

 for dry hay, but not quite enough to keep them in prime con- 



