Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1907 — Farm and Garden [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Farm and Garden

FEEDING SHEEP.

Satisfactory Davies For Holding Hay, Silags or Grain. In describing a hay and grain rack a well known sheep feeder writes In National Stockman and Fanner aa follows; The best kind of a device will depend upon what is to be done with the sheep. If for fattening sheep or those being wintered as stores I have never found a better rack than the single one

shown in the eul for a side rack or ti stand so that the back side of It will form an alley fence, or It may stand out in the pen so sheep cun go all around it It can be made double, as is also pictured. In either case the posts should be thirty inches high. The flat part of each side of bottom should be ten inches wide. The slnnting pieces of double rack should each be ten Inches and put together as shown. In the single rack the slanting board should be fourteen Inches.

The bottom strip on both racks should be eight and the top strip four inches wide respectively. This will make the uprights between sheep fourteen inches in the clear, and they should lap on both the bottom and top strip far enough to be nailed firmly with clinch nails., These uprights should be three Inches wide and planed so as to be smooth, and the distance apart will depend upon the size of sheep. Lambs will do well with them one foot from the centers, but larger

sheep should have them far enough apart so there will be room for sheep to come up and eat without crowding. These strips allow the sheep to come straight up to the rack and eat, but prevent one sheep from crowding all the others out of the rack, which a stout sheep is sure to do without these crosspieces. The slanting boards ou the bottom have their lower edges slanted off so as to fit tightly upon the bottom board and be well nailed. These racks may be of any convenient length, but if no more than eighteen feet long they will need only three sets of posts or legs. In these racks can be fed hay, silage, roots and grain by being cleaned of soiled or dirty food, which Is very easily done with a wooden shovel made on purpose or by a stiff broom.

SINGLE RACK.

DOUBLE BACK.