270 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA. 



Com, (maize) is preeminently the best food- 

 stuff for fattening sheep. It may be fed in 

 very economical manner. In Ohio it is the 

 practice to cut the com when ripe, gathering 

 it into large shocks containing from 144 to 258 

 hills. These shocks tightly bound about the 

 tops keep out the weather and preserve the 

 ears and blades very well. From the field the 

 shocks are dra^n direct to the feed yard, or 

 to some large, dry feeding field, where the un- 

 husked corn is strewn thinly over the ground. 

 Here the sheep consume the ears with little or 

 no waste, trimming off the blades also. If this 

 practice of feeding shock com is now supple- 

 mented by supplying racks filled with clover 

 or alfalfa hay the sheep are as fairly provided 

 for as need be. 



Sheep consume more food than steers, weight 

 for weight of animals being compared, and also 

 make slightly greater gains for food consumed. 

 In general sheep will consume about one-fourth 

 more than steers. 



There would thus be a considerable advan- 

 tage in feeding sheep over feeding cattle, when 

 gains are considered and also fleeces secured, 

 were it not that death losses are higher among 

 sheep and also prices fluctuate considerably, 

 sometimes feeders being relatively high in the 

 fall and ripe sheep low in the spring. 



The management of the sheep feeding yard 

 is admirably simple. There should be provided 

 wind breaks. It is a saying that "the pig can 

 see the wind" and the sheep can certainly feel 

 it through its thick coat. Sometimes these 



