Care and Management of Sheep 255 
The size. of the sheep barn will depend entirely on the number 
of sheep in the flock. ‘Experienced sheep owners do not agree as 
to the amount of space required, some stating that ten square 
feet is sufficient, others that they desire eighteen square feet for 
each animal. In practice, twelve square feet of floor space will 
be ample for each breeding ewe. 
412. The feed-racks. — Movable feed-racks are to be preferred. 
They should be comparatively long and narrow. The racks may 
be used in different places if desired. In many modern sheep 
barns, the combination hay-rack. and grain-trough is used, al- 
though it is better to have the two arranged separately. When 
it comes to forced feeding, as in fattening lambs, the combination 
rack has the objection that more or less dirt filters down into the 
grain-troughs, and the sheep with their dainty appetites do not feed 
as well as when the grain-troughs and the hay-rack are separated. 
413. Quantity of bedding. — Bedding should be used very 
liberally in both the sheep barn and at least a part of the lot. A 
fresh supply should be put down every few days. 
414. The sheep lot. — If possible, the sheep should at all times, 
except in the very severest of winter weather, have free access to 
a small lot. If this is dry, and a part well bedded, the sheep will 
spend much of their time outside and will be much benefited 
thereby. The lot should not be muddy. Where sheep are allowed 
to tramp in the mud, trouble from foot-scald is likely to result ; 
particularly is this true if there is much sheep manure mixed in 
the mud. Foot-scald is usually known as foot-rot. This disease is 
hard to eradicate. 
A straw stack in the sheep lot has many advantages. It keeps 
the sheep out of the wind, provides them a clean place to'lie, and 
they will eat of the straw to some extent. It has the disadvan- 
tage, however, that the chaff gets in the wool, and for this reason is 
objected to by many good sheep owners. Yet ewes and lambs 
delight in lying alongside such a stack, and they will be found 
there more often than in the barn, except in very severe weather. 
