FIELD EXPERIMENTS IN I914. t)I 



State permit dogs; to run loose, it was thought necessary to 

 make this fence as nearly dog proof as practicable. It is rather 

 fine woven, extra heavy wire fence 58 inches high with a barbed 

 wire on the inside top. Partly because of the difficulty of ob- 

 taining sufficient numbers of cedar posts at a reasonable price 

 and partly because of the increased expense of setting wooden 

 posts, steel posts were used. The corner posts were set by 

 boring a hole with a soil auger and driving to the rec[uired 

 depth. The cost of the material for the fence was greater than 

 it would have been if wooden posts were used, but the cost for 

 labor in building was less. Steel posts are also more "readily 

 driven in the spring if thrown up by frost. 



While the first cost of this fence is quite large it is very 

 durable. The fence should last with only slight care to drive 

 down the line posts each spring longer than a stone wall will 

 last. The fence is probably man proof as well as dog proof. 

 If it does not prove the former a second barbed wire will be 

 strung which will effectually stop anyone, even the most ath- 

 letic, cHmbing over the fence without practically destroying his 

 clothing and receiving serious injury from barbs. The barbed 

 wire is on the inside of the fence and makes a lawful as well as 

 effective highway fencee. 



During the winter the sheep are being fed as follows : At 

 6 A. M. hay; at 10 A. M. roots (rutabagas) and apple (culls) ; 

 at 2 P. M. straw with grain prepared as described below, and 

 at 5 P. M. clover hay. They are given only what they will 

 clean up. They are in pretty close feeding quarters which stim- 

 ulates competition and makes for cleaner and better eating of 

 the feed. 



In the rotation that has been carried upon the farm there are 

 quite large amounts of oat straw to be disposed of. There is 

 only a small market, and at poor price, for oat straw. It is 

 used not only in bedding the sheep but is made into a part of 

 the daily ration. The straw is cut into short lengths by passing 

 it through a small ensilage cutter (power driven). To each 12 

 bushels of the cut and dampened straw there is added a bushel 

 and a half of grain mixture composed of equal parts com meal, 

 white middlings and linseed meal. The sheep clean up all but 

 the coarsest of the mixture. 



