178 Sheep-Farming 



each ewe daily can usually be taken to them more 

 conveniently. Rape sown with small grains or at 

 the last planting of corn can be utilized to furnish fall 

 grazing. Rye sown early will afford fall feed and 

 also be useful in the spring. Such crops must be 

 largely used in maintaining a flock upon high-priced 

 lands. They afford fresh ground, which is necessary 

 to good health and freedom from parasites. They 

 make it possible to keep fewer acres in grass, though 

 the raising of them entails some extra labor that 

 is more than repaid by good sheep, as they gather 

 the crops themselves with a minimum of waste. 

 The use and need of such crops in sheep-farming calls 

 for more detailed reference in the chapter devoted 

 to summer management. 



Roughages for ewes. — Sheep that enter the winter 

 in good heart can be carried until nearly lambing 

 time without grain feeding. To do this, however, a 

 good supply of clean, well-cured roughages is neces- 

 sary. Red clover or alfalfa hay are well-nigh indis- 

 pensable, indeed without one of them grain feeding 

 must be resorted to. Corn fodder can be used in 

 wintering ewes, but it should be well cured. It is 

 most satisfactory for feeding on dry ground some 

 distance from the barns, so that the ewes get exercise 

 going to it and while feeding. Of course the waste 

 would preclude such use of fodder outside the corn 

 states, but the value of having a feed to use out 

 of doors is considerable. Pea straw, where it is ob- 



