66 THE Parmer's guide 



and the diseased be so far remored from the othsrs that 

 the disease be not communicated to the flock. Long 

 experience has proved that sheep require, in the winter, 

 dry yards, pure water, room to exercise, access to the 

 ground, regular time for feeding, and frequent change 

 of food. 



FEEDING SHEEP IN WINTER. 



No other animal requires so much attention to its food 

 during winter as the sheep. When first brought in for 

 the winter, they are usually confined in so small a space, 

 and in such numbers, that the air becomes impure, and 

 will soo-n produce disease. It will be a great preventive 

 of disease to besmear their noses with tar as often as once 

 in two weeks during the winter. Although no better 

 food for sheep exists than ripe well-cured timothy hay 

 and clover, yet an occasional change to rowen and other 

 kinds of hay, for a day or two, will be found of essential 

 benefit. They will thrive on oat, bean, or pea straw, 

 provided it be cured green, and they have a supply of po- 

 tatoes, turnips, and carrots, at the same time. Much 

 grain does not agree with sheep ; it is too solid ; yet they 

 eat much less hay, and thrive much faster, by giving each 

 one gill of peas or beans, or half a pint of oats per day. 

 This keeps them in good heart, and is calculated to pre- 

 vent them shedding their wool. Sheep suffer much du- 

 ring the winter by being deprived of green food, and 

 not having access to the ground. If possible, let them 

 have a few feet of turf, loam, or gravel ; should this be- 

 come frozen, break it up occasionally with a crow-bar or 

 axe. Feed them once a week, or oftener, with potatoes, 

 turnijDS, beets, parsnips, or carrots, and a few green 

 boughs of the hemlock, pine, cedar, or spruce, or of the 

 sweet-fern herb. Separate troughs, with salt, wood- 

 ashes, tar, sulphur, and clay, ought always to be within 

 their reach. While it is true that sheep at large in the 

 summer and autumn will make the heavy dews a substi- 

 tute for water, yet during their long winter confinement, 

 when nearly all their food is dry, they will need water 

 several times a dav. 



