SECTION XXXII. 



FEED AND CARE OF SHEEP. 

 Requirements. — The natural food of sheep is plants. They 

 have four stomachs as is the case with cattle and therefore they 

 are able to consume comparatively large quantities of roughage. 

 They seem to be able to digest and assimilate the nutrients in 

 roughage quite completely as is noticed by the fineness of the 



Fig. iS,— Wool type. 



particles in their manure. The requirements of sheep are some- 

 what similar to the requirements of cattle. Sheep require a little 

 more protein per pound of live weight than cattle, perhaps be- 

 cause of wool production. Fattening lambs also require protein 

 to produce growth. As a rule sheep require more digestible 

 nutrients per pound live weight and make larger gains per unit 

 of digestible nutrients than steers. 



Weed Destroyers. — Sheep may be used to destroy weeds in pas- 

 tures and are sometimes called weed destroyers. When grazing 



