578 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



regular action of the bowels, and to induce disease. 

 Sudden change from one kind of pasture to another 

 is certain to affect sheep, more particularly in the 

 spring and autumn. It is, however, more dangerous 

 to change suddenly from poor to rich diet than the 

 reverse. 



Sheep thrive best where there is a tolerable uni- 

 formity of pasture all the year round. If the ground 

 is wet, with the water standing on it here and there, 

 that is quite unfit for pasturing sheep. 



There is no better spring food for sheep than rye- 

 grass and red clover ; the former comes in most ap- 

 propriately after turnip feeding. Cole, tares, and rye 

 are likewise of much consequence as spring food. 



For winter feeding, nothing is better than turnips, 

 which should be accompanied by hay, or the straw 

 of peas, beans, or wheat, chopped or cut. Swedish 

 turnips are most approved of in most parts of England. 

 Cabbages come in well late in the season, and sheep 

 fatten quickly upon them. 



FATTENING. 



Various methods have been adopted to force the 

 feeding of sheep ; among these may be particularly 

 mentioned oil-cake, in addition to the ordinary food, 

 half a cake being given daily. But hay, bran, chaff, 

 and corn have all a tendency to fatten, and of the 

 latter two pounds may be given daily with advantage. 

 The cake, corn, and chaff should be given in troughs, 

 and the hay in racks, which may be placed over the 

 troughs as a roof to keep the cake from being soaked 

 with rain. From eighteen to twenty pounds of turnips 

 are required daily for each sheep. Barley-meal has 

 also been successfully used in feeding, as well as pease 



