WESTERN LAMB FEEDING. 271 



windbreaks are formed by long sheds, some- 

 times by high fences, made tight, and some- 

 times they are of natural timber and brush. 

 Some of the best sheep the writer has ever seen 

 fed were fed in the old fashioned way on shock 

 corn, in a blue-grass pasture that had been 

 allowed to grow up very high and thick, and 

 where open glades were interspersed with thick- 

 ets of hazel, oak and hickory. In this primitive 

 solitude the sheep found shelter and sustenance, 

 the shock com being strewn in the open places 

 where the wind could not reach them. 



Water must be abundant and good and very 

 accessible. Sheep will not thrive if they must 

 go far for their drink. 



It is a good plan to provide wide, flat-bot- 

 tomed troughs in which may be fed husked ear 

 com, since it will not all the season be prac- 

 ticable to feed shock com. If the sheep have 

 their teeth they will shell the ear com so read- 

 ily that it is not worth while shelling it for 

 them. 



The hay racks are best in shelter of sheds so 

 that the hay cannot become wet with rains. 

 And if there is room so that all can be sheltered 

 from soaking storms all the better. Dry cold 

 and snow will not hurt but wet is a serious 

 sei^back. 



Many sheep feeders rely upon self feeders for 

 shelled com for the finishing of the sheep. 

 These are usually large bins, holding 20 to 100 

 hushels each, with troughs on either side into 

 which the corn descends slowly. There seems 

 less objection to the use of the self feeder for 



