332 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



made to furnish an excellent place for the birth of young 

 lambs by simply penning off such an apartment; (2) it 

 makes it possible to locate the sites where it will be con- 

 venient to feed from it and where the lower portion may 

 have protection from the frost ; (3) it makes it easily 

 possible to make a safe storehouse for roots at little cost. 

 Should a basement, however, be damp, it should not be 

 used for housing sheep. 



Facilities for convenient feeding — When the facilities 

 for convenient feeding are what they should be, the sav- 

 ing in labor will thereby be greatly reduced. These in- 

 clude : (i) Feed racks and their location; (2) a feed room 

 and its location; (3) a root cellar and its location; (4) a 

 silo and its location ; and (5) the feeding of hay and the 

 furnishing of litter at a minimum of cost for labor. 



The feed racks are, as a rule, placed just inside the 

 passages. This makes it easily possible to feed from the 

 passages where the fodder comes down from the loft over- 

 head into the passages ; when the fodder comes down into 

 the passages, and where the racks are of proper construc- 

 tion, the fodder may be fed without injury to the fleece 

 from the chaffy particles in the fodder. For the construc- 

 tion of such a rack, see Fig. 15. In other instances the 

 racks, when movable and of the right length, may serve 

 the purpose of partitions between the divisions and of 

 racks at the same time. In other instances the racks for 

 fodder are placed in the yards, and in many instances of 

 range feeding they are placed along the outer border of 

 the yards. This admits of filling them from without and 

 with fodder that in quantity will last for several days. This 

 way of feeding fodders is not ideal, but the high price of 

 labor during recent years makes it in some instances a 

 necessity. It is not an ideal way of feeding sheep when 

 the fodder will suffice for more than a day, but there may 

 be instances in which it is admissible to furnish fodders 

 that will last for several days. 



