90 
Oil  Winter  Feeding  of  Sheep. 
great  portion  of  it  from  the  surface  of  the  land  in  heavy  rains ; it 
is  only  in  favourable  weather,  and  upon  the  lighter  soils,  that  the 
plough  can  follow  closely  upon  the  sheep  and  bury  the  manure, 
and  considerable  time  will  elapse  after  the  earliest  turnips  are  fed 
off  before  the  following  crop  is  sown  ; besides,  the  sheep  frequently 
catch  colds  and  epidemics,  and  become  diseased  in  the  feet,  and  then 
one  is  disappointed  in  the  sale,  both  as  to  time  and  weight.  Now 
what  I wish  to  throw  out  for  consideration  as  a somewhat  general 
practice  is  this,  whether  it  be  not  preferable  in  winter  to  confine 
the  field-feeding  of  sheep  to  the  mere  maintenance  of  the  store- 
sheep  or  breeding-flock,  and  to  conduct  the  fattening  of  those 
sheep  destined  immediately  for  the  butcher  in  sheds.  In  the 
latter  case,  properly  attended  to,  they  are  in  no  way  retarded  in 
their  progress  by  the  weather,  are  constantly  dry  and  healthy, 
fatten  more  quickly,  consume  much  less  food  in  proportion  to  their 
progress, — the  animal  heat  being  kept  up  by  shelter  and  warmth, 
instead  of  at  the  expense  of  food, — the  money  is  turned  much 
quicker,  the  manure  is  so  much  richer  and  so  much  more  effective, 
that,  applied  as  it  should  be  to  the  land  just  previous  to  sowing  the 
following  crop,  it  is  more  efficacious,  or  a smaller  quantity  suffices  ; 
and,  lastly,  there  is  no  waste  of  food.  All  these  advantages  are 
to  be  weighed  in  the  balance  mainly  with  the  labour  and  expense 
of  carting  in  turnips  and  carting  out  the  manure,  and  the  expense 
of  buildings. 
It  must  of  course  in  this,  as  in  other  methods  of  conducting 
farm  operations,  be  a matter  for  consideration  with  a farmer 
whether  the  circumstances  under  which  he  is  farming  (whether 
in  relation  to  the  quantity  or  extent  of  his  land,  the  labour  of  cart- 
ing, either  in  respect  to  level,  or  distance  from  the  homestead  or 
field-shed,  or  as  to  his  general  management)  are  such  as  to  ren- 
der it  worth  his  while  to  make  the  experiment  in  question ; but 
assuming  either  that  he  can  satisfactorily  erect,  upon  a large  farm, 
suitable  sheds  at  certain  points,  to  which  the  haulage  from  several 
fields,  and  back  again,  might  be  satisfactorily  accomplished  as 
the  successive  turnip-crops  were  applicable,  or  that  the  distance 
to  and  from  the  homestead  be  not  too  great,  I submit  that  the 
subject  is  worth  the  attention  of  farmers,  and,  the  above  circum- 
stances favourable,  I would  suggest  the  following  arrangement 
— carrying  from  the  field  to  the  shed  half  or  a portion  of  the  tur- 
nips for  the  fattening  sheep;  and  I believe  that  in  this  manner  a 
greater  number  of  fat  sheep  may  be  turned  off  the  farm  witli  the 
same  quantity  of  roots  now  grown,  whilst  a larger  number  of  store- 
sheep  or  a larger  flock  may  be  maintained  in  the  field  if  desirable, 
less  of  the  crop  being  required  for  the  fattening  sheep.  My  own 
practice  is  to  fatten  out  one  lot  of  sheep  in  the  winter  thus  : — to 
take  the  manure  made  in  the  shed  and  mix  it  with  ashes  under  an 
