THE MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP ON THE FARM. 19 
When a barn is built sufficient outlay is justifiable to make it con- 
venient. Storage should be provided for roughage, grain, and roots. 
If the haymow is above the sheep it should have a tight floor, so 
that the hayseed and chaff can not fall down upon the sheep. The 
root cellar must be frost proof. Barns having two floors for sheep 
are sometimes buult. 
The barn should be cleaned out several times during the winter. 
Slaked lime, gypsum, or disinfectants scattered about dispel the 
odors that arise at this time. The pens should be bedded down 
whenever necessary, so: that the sheep are kept clean and dry. 
Shavings are not a very satisfactory bedding material. They become 
entangled i in the wool, and are emilee in shearing. Wheat 
straw is the most satisfactory material for this purpose, enanen oat 
straw is very good. Ordinarily the refuse from the hay racks affords 
sufficient bedding. An attractive and desirable sheep barn remodeled 
from an old farm building is shown in Plate II, figure 2, the barn at 
the United States Morgan Horse Farm, at Middlebury, Vt. 
CARE OF EWES. 
Some time between weaning and mating the ewe flock should be 
culled over. They should be “mouthed,” and any broken-mouthed 
ewes separated and fattened for the butcher. The age at which 
sheep lose their teeth varies with a number of things. They lose 
them sooner upon sandy soil than upon clay or loam. Ewes are 
culled out at-5 or 6 years of age as a general rule. Sometimes an 
exceptional individual can be profitably kept after this age; espe- 
cially is this true of purebred ewes, which are frequently kept until 
10 or 12 years of age. Such animals, however, require much more 
attention and such feeds as they can readily eat, if they are expected 
to continue useful. Barren ewes, those having defective udders, and 
those that are inherently poor mothers should also be culled out. 
FLUSHING. 
It has been the general belief for a great many years that having 
the ewes in a gaining condition at mating time increases the per- 
centage of lambs. This is commonly known as “‘flushing,”’ and is 
accomplished by turning the ewes upon rape or other such feeds after 
having been upon short pasture. Some authorities hold that keeping 
the ewes in a flourishing condition throughout the year is even more 
beneficial. However, after three years’ observations upon Scottish 
flocks, F. H. A. Marshall! reported that some form of extra feeding 
immediately before the mating period appeared to increase the per- 
centage of lambs. As to the other, we have no definite information. 
Having the ewes in flourishing condition also shortens the mating 
1 Trans. Highland and Agr. Soc. Scot., 5 ser., 20. 
