PROVIDING SHEEP WITH WATER AND SALT 3II 



which support is called for by lambs that may be nursing 

 their dams. When the confinement is close, the sheep 

 have not the same opportunity to eat snow as they do 

 sometimes in order to relieve their thirst. 



Under forced feeding sheep will take much more wa- 

 ter than under ordinary feeding. The stimulating char- 

 acter of the food creates heat in the system, and this 

 proportionately increases the demand for water. When 

 ewes are nursing their lambs, they cannot adequately sup- 

 ply them with milk without being themselves abundantly 

 supplied with water, directly or indirectly, through the 

 succulence that is fed. 



Providing water for sheep in summer — The sources 

 from which water for sheep is obtained in summer are: 

 (i) The grazing; (2) dews; (3) streams; (4) wells; and 

 (S) ponds. Grazing and dews as sources of water sup- 

 ply have already been considered. Where the supply is 

 insufficient from these sources, it must be obtained from 

 one of the other sources ftientioned. 



Usually water furnished by streams in the pastures 

 is very suitable to the needs of sheep. Streams with cur- 

 rent all the way as they flow through the pastures are 

 eminently suitable, and the same is true of rivulets fed 

 by perennial springs. But should the waters spread out 

 betimes on level stretches, where they become stagnant 

 or nearly so, the grasses that grow in such places may 

 harbor therein the seeds of death in the parasites that 

 usually infest such places. Water obtained from wells 

 is well adapted to the needs of the sheep as a rule, al- 

 though to this there may be some exceptions, as when it 

 is impregnated with substances that are not relished by 

 the sheep, or that may be positively harmful to them be- 

 cause of the substances which it contains. 



Usually, however, water obtained from wells is about 

 on a par in quality with that obtained from springs. It 

 is usually pumped up by windmills, so regulated that they 

 operate only when water may be needed. The troughs 



