204 



THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



find the top floor by fodder. It will make a most desirable 

 house for rearing lambs, as there may be six rows of peiis 

 on the main floor, double planked, if two floors are used, 

 in the upper part, to keep the lower one dry. Or the upper 

 floor may be occupied by the lambs and the lower one by the 

 ewes. The braces bolted to the other parts of the frame 

 give great stiffness as well as a clear space at very little 

 cost of labor in the building. A barn on this plan, 180 feet 



PIG. 2. CHEAPLY BUILT SHEEP BARN. 



by 40 has beou found to cost less than half that of a square 

 barn w r ith the same floor room, which is 7,200 square feet, a 

 little less than one-sixth of an acre, or a third if two floors 

 are used. It will accommodate 700 sheep, giving one and a 

 half feet of rack length to each sheep, which is ample; or if 

 for lambs there may be room made for 400 ewes, as well as 

 the same number of lambs, which will be kept in pens in the 

 middle space. 



It has been contended by some sheep breeders that en- 

 closed stables are not desirable, and that mere open sheds 

 are sufficient. This is opposed to scientific rules, which go 

 to prove most emphatically, that exposure of any animal to 

 cold causes a waste of food \vhich is required to maintain 

 the animal heat indispensable for health and comfort, both 

 of which terms are equivalent; for discomfort, as we know- 

 in our own experience, is merely a condition whiich leads to 

 disease, and a diseased sheep will first show its conditio-u 

 by the dropping of the wool or a serious loss of flesh. So 

 that the belief of every well informed shepherd is that sheep 

 need good comfortable shelter, as well as other animals do. 



