6 BULLETIN 589, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
troughs which are also used for hogs. The feeding of hay to cattle 
or other stock on the ground might enable the carrier to comply 
with the law where the ground is dry; but in open pens when it rains. 
or snows the ground becomes muddy, and the animals will trample 
the feed into the mud and then refuse to eat it. Pens into which hogs 
are unloaded should have a floor of some hard substance, on account 
of the tendency of hogs to root. During cold weather, also, hogs will 
make depressions in unpaved pens and then lie down in them, piling 
one on another to keep warm. In this way some hogs are smothered. 
In constructing a properly equipped feeding yard the floor space, 
including pens and alleys, should be filled in with cinders or other 
suitable material and allowed to settle, then paved with rough brick 
or roughened concrete, and properly sloped for drainage. <A portion 
of the yards should be covered and boarded up on the north and west 
sides and so arranged that at least a 243-foot space just above the 
level of the yard fence can be opened during warm weather to allow 
a good circulation of air. (See fig. 5.) 
All pens should be equipped with watering and feeding facilities 
for the particular kind of animals to be handled, and no yard should 
have less than 50 feet of feeding-rack space and 15 feet of watering 
trough. Yards in which double decks of sheep are yarded should 
have between 80 and 100 feet of feeding-rack space. Water troughs. 
of sufficient size (approximately 15 feet long, 12 inches deep, and 12 
to 15 inches wide for each single-deck yard) to allow the animals to 
get their fill within a short time should be provided, and each trough 
should be drained directly from the plug to the sewer, which will 
allow the water to drain from the troughs, thereby avoiding freezing 
in the winter and stagnant water in the summer. Each trough should 
be provided with a separate shut-off for the water, and the hydrant 
boxes should be packed properly during the winter to avoid freezing. 
As before indicated, yards that are used for both hogs and other ani- 
mals should be equipped with two sets of watering troughs. Feeding 
racks built with boards running parallel with the length of the rack 
at which sheep are fed should have a space of at least 74 inches be-- 
tween the boards, about 18 to 20 inches from the floor, which will 
allow the heads of the sheep free access into the rack and out again 
while feeding. Vertical slats of round iron should be about 74 inches 
apart in order that the sheep may get at the hay readily. Sufficient 
lighting facilities should be installed for loading and unloading dur- 
ing the night; an example of this is seen in Plate I, figure 1. 
Loading and unloading chutes and docks should be built to acom- 
modate the kind of animals handled. Figure 1 illustrates a good 
arrangement for unloading double-deck cars. 
Fences for the yards should be of sufficient height and strength 
to restrain the animals properly. The yards should be drained 
