CHAPTER XIV 
FEEDING SHEEP 
SHEEP are among the most difficult of farm animals to feed. 
Thorough familiarity with their habits is essential to success. 
Sheep are naturally very timid in their disposition, very dainty 
feeders, and are easily frightened out of their appetite. ~ A sudden 
noise or disturbance of any kind will often greatly frighten 
them, and sometimes create a stampede or panic in the entire 
flock. 
371. Sheep are delicate. — Sheep are the most susceptible of 
farm animals to the ravages of parasites, both internal and ex- 
ternal. These parasites in some one or more of their many forms 
are responsible for the larger number of failures in this country. 
No part of our land is free’ from them all. In certain localities 
one form will be the more destructive, in other localities another 
form is to be dreaded. For example, in the corn-belt, the stomach 
worm (Strongylus contortus) is by far the most serious, while in 
the far West, scab is the more troublesome. As a rule, little 
attention is given these parasites; the flock becomes infested, 
many of the sheep become ill and die, and the others fail to 
thrive, and sometimes the owner does not know what causes 
the trouble. 
While sheep can withstand the cold without suffering much 
inconvenience, they cannot endure the rain or snow that saturates 
their wool, nor dark, damp, and poorly ventilated quarters. Such 
conditions lead to colds, running at the nose, catarrh, inflamma- 
tion, diarrhoea, and all kinds of sheep diseases. From this 
it follows that if sheep are to prove profitable, they must 
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