The Breeding and Feeding of Sheep. 
629 
we supplied oiir young ewes mth a quarter of a pound a-day of 
nutmeal, with chaff, and a very small quantity of roots, and they 
throve wonderfully. 
Method of using Steaw. 
Having, then, endeavoured to show that straw may be economically 
used with roots for sheep, I will next point out how it can be best 
supplied. It is customary either to give straw long, in racks, or to 
cut it all into chaff. The latter plan does not answer, as bad and 
good straw are so mixed that the animal refuses all, and the expense 
of cutting is not paid for. The former plan is. by far the best, when 
the straw can be thrashed and stacked in the same field where the 
roots are being consumed. Nothing can answer better, unless it can 
be sho^\-n that a system of pulping roots and cutting chaff can be 
economically carried out. I have the experience of 4i very good flock- 
master in support of this plan. Three hundred ewe tegs go first, and 
are supplied with hay ; 600 ewes follow, eating the remains of turnips 
and some straw ; these lie back at night on a foldyard, kept well lit- 
tered by the refuse straw removed fi-om the racks. It is surprising 
what a large quantity of straw may thus be consumed, with what a 
small quantity of tm'nips the ewes will thrive, and what a rare manure- 
heap results, which is close at hand to be spread on the young seeds 
the following autumn, with the minimum amoimt of labour. A system 
of this sort is well suited to large breeding-farms, where the land 
often lies remote from the buildings, and the consmnption of straw in 
the homestead would greatly increase the labour. Straw should be used 
in the following order : — Good sweet barley-straw first ; this may be 
commenced when ewes are eating mangold-tops, &c., and will last till 
November. Then oat or bean straw, the latter being most valuable in 
cold weather ; and lastly, pea-straw, which, when well made, is equal to 
much of the seed hay grown on light land ; with this may be given a 
portion of hay when ewes are lambing. Our practice is to build a 
good stack of freshly-thrashed pea- straw in the ewe-pen, often so as 
form a wall of division, and to fodder once a day with this, and once 
with hay. Sheep thus fed will be most conveniently managed with 
nets, instead of hurdles, as less work is required in setting a fold ; and 
the turnips should be first picked up, at a cost of Is. 6d. an acre. 
Where ewes are allowed a full quantity of turnips, and the crop is a 
fair average one — say 13 to 14 tons per acre — the common rule is to 
allow one hurdle to each sheep. Thus 100 sheep require daily 10 
hurdles square. This applies to large-framed sheep. 
Pulping Straw and Koots. 
We have now to consider whether any system can be economically 
arranged for pidping the roots and mixing them with straw and chaif. 
We all know what a great improvement has taken place in the feeding 
of horned stock by the use of the pulper — how animals that formerly 
consumed from li to 2 cwts. of roots daily, when sliced, are now better 
fed on 70 lbs. to^SO lbs., with 15 lbs. to 20 lbs. of straw. Shorthorn 
cows dried off previous to calving, being in an identical condition with 
