FEEDING.

As soon as the warm weather approaches and the grass appears, sheep

become restive and impatient for the pasture. This instinct should be

repressed till the ground has become thoroughly dry, and the grass has

acquired substance. They ought, moreover, to be provided for the change

of food by the daily use of roots for a few days before turning out. The

tendency to excessive purging which is induced by the first

spring-feed, may be checked by housing them at night and feeding them

for the first few days with a little sound, sweet hay. They must be

provided with pure water and salt; for, though they may do tolerably

well without either, yet thrift and freedom from disease are cheaply

secured by this slight attention.

As to _water_, it may be said that it is not indispensable in the summer

pastures, since the dews and the succulence of the feed answer as a

substitute; but a wide experience having demonstrated that free access

to it is advantageous, particularly to those having lambs, it should be

considered a matter of importance on a sheep-farm so to arrange the

pastures, if possible, as to bring water into each of them.

[Illustration: A COVERED SALTING BOX.]

SALT is indispensable to the health, especially in the summer. It is

common to give it once a week, while they are at grass. It is still

better to give them free access to it, at all times, by keeping it in a

covered box, open on one side, as in the engraving annexed. A large

hollow log, with holes cut along the side for the insertion of the heads

of the animals, answers very well. A sheep having free access to salt at

all times will never eat too much of it; and it will take its supply at

such times and in such quantities as Nature demands, instead of eating

of it voraciously at stated periods, as intermediate abstinence will

stimulate it to do. When salt is fed but once a week, it is better to

have a stated day, so that it will not be forgotten; and it is well to

lay the salt on flat stones--though if laid in little handfuls on the

grass, very little of it will be lost.

TAR. This is supposed by many to form a very healthful condiment for

sheep, and they smear the nose with it, which is licked and swallowed as

the natural heat of the flesh, or that of the weather, causes it to

trickle down over the nostrils and lips. Others, suffering the flock to

get unusually salt-hungry, place tar upon flat stones, or in troughs,

and then scatter salt upon it so that both may be consumed together.

Applied to the nose, in the nature of a cataplasm, it may be

advantageous in catarrhs; and in the same place, at the proper periods,

its odor may, perhaps, repel the fly, the eggs of which produce the

"gout in the head," as it is termed. However valuable it may be as a

medicine, and even as a debergent in the case specified, there is but

slight ground for confidence in it merely as a condiment.

_Dry_, _sweet pastures_, and such as abound in aromatic and bitter

plants, are best suited for sheep-walks. No animal, with the exception

of the goat, crops so great a variety of plants. They eat many which are

rejected by the horse and the ox, which are even essential to their own

wants. In this respect they are valuable assistants to the husbandman,

as they feed greedily on wild mustard, burdock, thistles, marsh-mallows,

milk-weed, and various other offending plants; and the Merino exceeds

the more recent breeds in the range of his selections.

In pastures, however, where the dry stalks of the burdock, or the

hound's-tongue, or tory-weed have remained standing over the winter, the

burs are caught in the now long wool, and, if they are numerous, the

wool is rendered entirely unmarketable and almost valueless. Even the

dry prickles of the common and Canada thistles, where they are very

numerous, get into the neck-wool of sheep, as they thrust their heads

under and among them to crop the first scarce feed of the northern

spring; and, independently of injuring the wool, they make it difficult

to wash and otherwise handle the sheep. Indeed, it is a matter of the

soundest policy to keep sheep on the cleanest pastures, those free from

these and similar plants; and in a region where they are pastured the

year round, they should be kept from contact with them for some months

prior to shearing.

Many prepare _artificial pastures_ for their flocks, which may be done

with a number of plants. Winter rye, or wheat sown early in the season,

may be fed off in the fall, without injury to the crop; and, in the

following spring, the rye may be pastured till the stalks shoot up and

begin to form a head. This affords an early and nutritious food. Corn

may be sown broadcast, or thickly in drills, and either fed off in the

fields or cut and carried to the sheep in their folds. White mustard is

also a valuable crop for this purpose.

To give sheep sufficient variety, it is better _to divide their range_

into several smaller ones, and change them as often, at least, as once a

week. They seek a favorite resting-place, on a dry, elevated part of the

field, which soon becomes soiled. By removing them from this for a few

days, rain will cleanse or the sun dry it, so as to make it again

suitable for them. More sheep may be kept, and in better condition,

where this practice is adopted, than where they are confined to the same

pasture.

SHADE. No one who has observed with what eagerness sheep seek shade in

hot weather, and how they pant and apparently suffer when a hot sun is

pouring down upon their nearly naked bodies, will doubt that, both as a

matter of humanity and utility, they should be provided, during the hot

summer-months, with a better shelter than that afforded by a common

rail-fence. Forest trees are the most natural and the best shades, and

it is as contrary to utility as it is to good taste to strip them

entirely from the sheep-walks. A strip of stone-wall or close board

fence on the south and west sides of the pasture, forms a tolerable

substitute for trees. But in the absence of all these and of buildings

of any kind, a shade can be cheaply constructed of poles and brush, in

the same manner as the sheds of the same materials for winter shelter,

which will be hereafter described.

FENCES. Poor _fences_ will teach ewes and wethers, as well as rams, to

jump; and for a jumping flock there is no remedy but immoderately high

fences, or extirpation. One jumper will soon teach the trick to a whole

flock; and if one by chance is brought in, it should be immediately

hoppled or killed. The last is by far the surest and safest remedy.

HOPPLING is done by sewing the ends of a leather strap, broad at the

extremities, so that it will not cut into the flesh, to a fore and hind

leg, just above the pastern joints, leaving the legs at about the

natural distance apart. _Clogging_ is fastening a billet of wood to the

fore leg by a leather strap. _Yoking_ is fastening two rams two or three

feet apart, by bows around their necks, inserted in a light piece of

timber, some two or three inches in size. _Poking_ is done by inserting

a bow in a short bit of light timber, into which bit--worn on the under

side of the neck--a rod is inserted, which projects a couple of feet in

front of the sheep.

These and similar devices, to prevent rams from scaling fences, may be

employed as a last resort by those improvident farmers who prefer, by

such troublesome, injurious, and, at best, insecure means, to guard

against that viciousness which they might so much more easily have

prevented from being acquired.

DANGEROUS RAMS. From being teased and annoyed by boys, or petted and

played with when young, and sometimes without any other stimulant than a

naturally vicious temper, rams occasionally become very troublesome by

their propensity to attack men or cattle. Some will allow no man to

enter the field where they are without making an immediate onset upon

him; while others will knock down the ox or horse which presumes to

dispute a lock of hay with them. A ram which is known to have acquired

this propensity should at once be _hooded_, and, if not valuable, at the

proper season converted into a wether. But the courage thus manifested

is usually the concomitant of great strength and vigor of constitution,

and of a powerfully developed frame. If good in other particulars, it is

a pity to lose the services of so valuable an animal. In such cases,

they may be hooded, by covering their faces with leather in such a

manner that they can only see a little backward and forward. They must

then, however, be kept apart from the flock of rams, or they will soon

be killed or injured by blows, which they cannot see to escape.

It sometimes happens that a usually quiet-tempered ram will suddenly

exhibit some pugnacity when one is salting or feeding the flock. If such

a person turns to run, he is immediately knocked down, and the ram

learns, from that single lesson, the secret of his mastery, and the

propensity to exercise it. As the ram gives his blow from the summit of

the parietal and the posterior portion of the frontal bones on _the top_

of his head, and not from the forehead, he is obliged to crouch his head

so low when he makes his onset that he does not see forward well enough

to swerve suddenly from his right line, and a few quick motions to the

right and left enable one to escape him. Run in upon him, as he dashes

by, with pitch-fork, club, or boot-heel, and punish him severely by

blows about the head, if the club is used, giving him no time to rally

until he is thoroughly cowed. This may be deemed harsh treatment, and

likely to increase the viciousness of the animal. Repeated instances

have, however, proved the contrary; and if the animal once is forced to

acknowledge that he is overcome, he never forgets the lesson.

PRAIRIE FEEDING. Sheep, when destined for the prairies, ought to

commence their journey as early after the shearing as possible, since

they are then disencumbered of their fleece, and do not catch and retain

as much dust as when driven later; feed is also generally better, and

the roads are dry and hard. Young and healthy sheep should be selected,

with early lambs; or, if the latter are too young, and the distance

great, they should be left, and the ewes dried off. A large wagon ought

to accompany the flock, to carry such as occasionally give out; or they

may be disposed of whenever they become enfeebled. With good care, a

hardy flock may be driven at the rate of twelve or fourteen miles a day.

Constant watchfulness is requisite, in order to keep them healthy and in

good plight. One-half the expense of driving may be saved by the use of

well-trained shepherd-dogs.

When arrived at their destination, they must be thoroughly washed, to

free them from all dirt, and closely examined as to any diseases which

they may have contracted, that these may be promptly removed. A variety

of suitable food and good shelter must be provided for the autumn,

winter, and spring ensuing, and every necessary attention given to them.

This would be necessary if they were indigenous to the country; but it

is much more so when they have just undergone a campaign to which

neither they nor their race have been accustomed.

Sheep cannot be kept on the prairies without much care, artificial food,

and proper attention; and losses have often occurred, by reason of a

false system of economy attempted by many, from disease and mortality in

the flocks, amply sufficient to have made a generous provision for the

comfort and security of twice the number lost. More especially do they

require proper food and attention after the first severe frosts set in,

which wither and kill the natural grasses. By nibbling at the bog--the

frostbitten, dead grass--they are inevitably subject to constipation,

which a bountiful supply of roots, sulphur, etc., is alone sufficient to

remove.

Roots, grain, good hay, straw, corn-stalks, and pea or bean-vines are

essential to the preservation of their health and thrift during the

winter, everywhere north of thirty-nine degrees. In summer, the natural

herbage is sufficient to sustain them in fine condition, till they shall

have acquired a denser population of animals, when it will be found

necessary to stock their meadows with the best varieties of artificial

grasses.

The prairies seem adapted to the usual varieties of sheep introduced

into the United States; and of such are the flocks made up, according to

the taste or judgment of the owners. Shepherd dogs are invaluable to the

owners of flocks, in these unfenced, illimitable ranges, both as a

defence against the small prairie wolves, which prowl around the sheep,

but have been rapidly thinned off by the settlers, and also as

assistants to the shepherds in driving and herding their flocks on the

open ground.

FALL FEEDING. In the North, the grass often gets very short by the tenth

or fifteenth of November, and it has lost most of its nutritiousness

from repeated freezing and thawing. At this time, although no snow may

have fallen, it is best to give the sheep a light, daily foddering of

bright hay, and a few oats in the bundle. Given thus for the ten or

twelve days which precede the covering of the ground by snow, fodder

pays for itself as well as at any other time during the year. It is well

to feed oats in the bundle, or threshed oats, about a gill to the head,

in the feeding-troughs, carried to the field for that purpose.

WINTER FEEDING. The time for taking sheep from the pastures must depend

on the state of the weather and food. Severe frosts destroy much of the

nutriment in the grasses, and they soon after cease to afford adequate

nourishment. Long exposure to cold storms, with such food to sustain

them, will rapidly reduce the condition of these animals. The only safe

rule is to transfer them to their winter-quarters the first day they

cease to thrive abroad.

There is no better food for sheep than well-ripened, sound Timothy hay;

though the clovers and nearly all the cultivated grasses may be

advantageously fed. Hundreds and thousands of northern flocks receive,

during the entire winter, nothing but ordinary hay, consisting mainly of

Timothy, some red and white clover, and frequently a sprinkling of gum,

or spear grass. Bean and pea straw are valuable, especially the former,

which, if properly cured, they prefer to the best hay; and it is well

adapted to the production of wool. Where hay is the principal feed, it

may be well, where it is convenient, to give corn-stalks every fifth or

sixth feed, or even once a day; or the daily feed, not of hay, might

alternate between stalks, pea-straw, straws of the cereal grains, etc.

It is mainly a question of convenience with the farmer, provided a

proper supply of palatable nutriment within a proper compass is given.

It would not, however, be entirely safe to confine any kind of sheep to

the straw of the cereal grains, unless it were some of those little

hardy varieties of animals which would be of no use in this country.

The expediency of feeding _grain_ to store-sheep in winter depends much

on circumstances. If in a climate where they can obtain a proper supply

of grass or other green esculents, it would, of course, be unnecessary;

nor is it a matter of necessity where the ground is frozen or covered

with snow for weeks or months, provided the sheep be plentifully

supplied with good dry fodder. Near markets where the coarser grains

find a quick sale at fair prices, it is not usual, in the North, to feed

grain. Remote from markets it is generally fed by the holders of large

flocks. Oats are commonly preferred, and they are fed at the rate of a

gill a head per day. Some feed half the same amount of yellow corn.

Fewer sheep, particularly lambs and yearlings, get thin and perish where

they receive a daily feed of grain; they consume less hay, and their

fleeces are increased in weight. On the whole, therefore, it is

considered good economy. Where no grain is fed, three daily feeds of hay

are given. The smaller sizes of the Saxon may be well sustained on two

pounds of hay; but larger sheep will consume from three and a half to

four or even five pounds per day. Sheep, in common with all other

animals, when exposed to cold, will consume much more than if well

protected, or during a warmer season.

It is a common and very good practice to feed greenish cut oats in the

bundle, at noon, and give but two feeds of hay, one at morning and one

at night. Some feed greenish cut peas in the same way. In warm, thawing

weather, when sheep get to the ground and refuse dry hay, a little grain

assists materially in keeping up their strength and condition. When the

feed is shortest in winter, in the South, there are many localities

where sheep can get enough grass to take off their appetite for dry hay,

but not quite enough to keep them in prime order. A moderate daily feed

of oats or pease, placed in the depository racks, would keep them strong

and in good plight for the lambing season, and increase their weight of

wool.

Few Northern farmers feed _Indian corn_ to store-sheep, as it is

considered too hot and stimulating, and sheep are thought to become more

liable to become "cloyed" on it than on oats, pease, etc. Yellow corn is

not generally judged a very safe feed for lambs and yearlings.

Store-sheep should be kept in good, fair, plump condition. Lambs and

yearlings may be as fat as they will become on proper feeding. It is

stated that sheep will eat _cotton-seed_, and thrive on it.

It must be remembered that sheep are not to be allowed to get thin

during the winter, with the idea that their condition can at any time be

readily raised by better feed, as with the horse or ox. It is always

difficult, and, unless properly managed, expensive and hazardous, to

attempt to raise the condition of a poor flock in the winter, especially

if they have reached that point where they manifest weakness. If the

feeding of a liberal allowance of grain be suddenly commenced, fatal

diarrh[oe]a will often supervene. All extra feeding, therefore, must be

begun very gradually; and it does not appear, in any case, to produce

proportionable results.

_Roots_, such as ruta-bagas, Irish potatoes, and the like, make a good

substitute for grain, or as extra feed for grown sheep. The ruta-baga is

preferable to the potato in its equivalents of nutriment. No root,

however, is as good for lambs and yearlings as an equivalent of grain.

Sheep may be taught to eat nearly all the cultivated roots. This is done

by withholding salt from them, and then feeding the chopped roots a few

times, rubbed with just sufficient salt to induce them to eat the root

to obtain it; but not enough to satisfy their appetite for salt before

they have acquired a taste for the roots.

It is customary with some farmers to cut down, from time to time in the

winter, and draw into the sheep-yards, young trees of the _hemlock_,

whose foliage is greedily eaten by the sheep, after being confined for

some time to dry feed. This browse is commonly used, like tar, for some

supposed medicinal virtues. It is pronounced "healthy" for sheep. Much

the same remarks might be made about this as have been already made

concerning tar. No tonics and stimulants are needed for a healthy

animal. If the foliage of the hemlock were constantly accessible to

them, there would be no possible objection to their eating it, since

their instincts, in that case, would teach them whether, and in what

quantities, to devour it; but when entirely confined to dry feed for a

protracted period, sheep will consume injurious and even poisonous

succulents, and of the most wholesome ones, hurtful quantities. As a

mere _laxative_, an occasional feed of hemlock may be beneficial;

though, in this point of view, a day's run at grass, in a thaw, or a

feed of roots, would produce the same result. In a climate where grass

is procurable most of the time, browse for medicinal purposes is

entirely unnecessary.

Sheep undoubtedly require _salt_ in winter. Some salt their hay when it

is stored in the barn or stack. This is objectionable, since the

appetite of the sheep is much the safest guide in the premises. It may

be left accessible to them in the salt-box, as in summer; or an

occasional feed of grined hay or straw may be given them in warm,

thawing weather, when their appetite is poor. This last is an excellent

plan, and serves a double purpose. With a wisp of straw, sprinkle a thin

layer of straw with brine, then another layer of straw, and another

sprinkling, and so on. Let this lie until the next day, for the brine to

be absorbed by the straw, and then feed it to all the grazing animals on

the farm which need salting.

_Water_ is indispensable, unless sheep have access to succulent food, or

clean snow. Constant access to a brook or spring is best; but, in

default of this, they should be watered at least _once a day_ in some

other way.

FEEDING WITH OTHER STOCK. Sheep should not run, or be fed, _in yards_,

with any other stock. Cattle hook them, often mortally; and colts tease

and frequently injure them. It is often said that "colts will pick up

what sheep leave." But well-managed sheep rarely leave any thing; and,

if they chance so to do, it is better to rake it up and throw it into

the colts' yard, than to feed them together. If sheep are not required

to eat their food pretty clean, they will soon learn to waste large

quantities. If, however, they are over-fed with either hay or grain, it

is not proper to compel them, by starvation, to come back and eat it.

This they will not do, unless sorely pinched. Clean out the troughs, or

rake up the hay, and the next time feed less.

DIVISION OF FLOCKS. If flocks are shut up in small inclosures during

winter, according to the northern custom, it is necessary to divide them

into flocks of about one hundred each, consisting of sheep of about the

same size and strength; otherwise, the stronger rob the weaker, and the

latter rapidly decline. This is not so important where the sheep roam at

large; but, even in that case, some division and classification are

best. It is best, indeed, even in summer. The poorer and feebler can by

this means receive better pasture, or a little more grain and better

shelter in winter.

By those who grow wool to any extent, breeding ewes, lambs, and wethers,

are invariably kept in separate flocks in winter; and it is best to keep

yearling sheep by themselves with a few of the smallest two-year-olds,

and any old crones which are kept for their excellence as breeders, but

which cannot maintain themselves in the flock of breeding ewes.

Old and feeble or wounded sheep, late-born lambs, etc., should be

placed by themselves, even if the number be small, as they require

better feed, warmer shelter, and more attention. Unless the sheep are of

a peculiarly valuable variety, however, it is better to sell them off in

the fall at any price, or to give them to some poor neighbor who has

time to nurse them, and who may thus commence a flock.

REGULARITY IN FEEDING. If any one principle in sheep husbandry deserves

careful attention more than others, it is, that _the utmost regularity

must be preserved in feeding_.

First, there should be regularity as to _the times_ of feeding. However

abundantly provided for, when a flock are foddered sometimes at one hour

and sometimes at another--sometimes three times a day, and sometimes

twice--some days grain, and some days none--they cannot be made to

thrive. They will do far better on inferior keep, if fed with strict

regularity. In a climate where they require hay three times a day, the

best times for feeding are about sunrise in the morning, at noon, and an

hour before dark at night. Unlike cattle and horses, sheep do not feed

well in the dark; and, therefore, they should have time to consume their

food before night sets in. Noon is the common time for feeding grain or

roots, and is the best time, if but two fodderings of hay are given. If

the sheep receive hay three times, it is not a matter of much

consequence with which feeding grain is given, only that the practice be

uniform.

Secondly, it is highly essential that there should be regularity in _the

amount_ fed. The consumption of hay will, it is true, depend much upon

the weather; the keener the cold, the more the sheep will eat. In the

South, much depends upon the amount of grass obtained. In many places, a

light, daily foddering supplies; in others, a light foddering placed in

the depository racks once in two days, answers the purpose. In the

steady cold weather of the North, the shepherd readily learns to

determine about how much hay will be consumed before the next foddering

time. And this amount should, as near as may be, be regularly fed. In

feeding grain or roots, there is no difficulty in preserving entire

regularity; and it is vastly more important than in feeding hay. Of the

latter, a sheep will not over-eat and surfeit itself; of the former, it

will. Even if it be not fed grain to the point of surfeiting, it will

expect a like amount, however over-plenteous, at the next feeding;

failing to receive which, it will pine for it, and manifest uneasiness.

The effect of such irregularity on the stomach and system of any animal

is bad; and the sheep suffers more from it than any other animal. It is

much better that the flock receive no grain at all, than that they

receive it without regard to regularity in the amount. The shepherd

should _measure_ out the grain to the sheep in all instances, instead of

_guessing_ it out, and measure it to each separate flock.

EFFECT OF FOOD. Well-fed sheep, as has been previously remarked, produce

more wool than poorly fed ones. No doctrine is more clearly recognized

in agricultural chemistry than that animal tissues derive their chemical

components from the same components existing in their food. Various

analyses show that the chemical composition of wool, hair, hoofs, nails,

horns, feathers, lean meat, blood, cellular tissue, nerves, etc., are

nearly identical.

The organic part of wool, according to standard authorities, consists of

carbon, 50.65; hydrogen, 7.03; nitrogen, 17.71; oxygen and sulphur,

24.61. The inorganic constituents are small. When burned, it leaves but

a trifling per cent. of ash.

The large quantity of nitrogen contained in wool shows that its

production is increased by highly azotized food; and from various

experiments made, a striking correspondence has been found to exist

between the amount of wool and the amount of nitrogen in food. _Pease_

rank first in increasing the wool, and very high in the average

comparative increase which they produce in all the tissues.

The increase of fat and muscle, as of wool, depends upon the nature of

the food. It is not very common, in the North, for wool-growers to

fatten their wethers for market by extra winter feeding. Some give them

a little more generous keep the winter before they are to be turned off,

and then salt them when they have obtained their maximum fatness the

succeeding fall.

Stall-feeding is lost on an ill-shaped, unthrifty animal. The perfection

of form and health, and the uniform good condition which characterizes

the thrifty one, indicate, too plainly to be misunderstood, those which

will best repay the care of their owner. The selection of any

indifferent animal for stall-fattening will inevitably be attended with

loss. Such ought to be got rid of, when first brought from the pasture,

for the wool they will bring.

When winter fattening is attempted, sheep require warm, dry shelters,

and should receive, in addition to all the hay they will eat, meal twice

a day in troughs--or meal once and chopped roots once. The equivalent of

from half a pint to a pint of yellow corn meal per head each day is

about as much as ordinary stocks of Merino wethers will profitably

consume; though in selected flocks, consisting of large animals, this

amount is frequently exceeded.