Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 October 1874 — Sheep Troughs and Racks. [ARTICLE]

Sheep Troughs and Racks.

We have insisted upon the importance of furnishing good troughs and racks for feeding sheep, whether under shelter or in the open air. Where lumber is plenty and cheap there will he no difficulty in so doing. In a wooded country troughs may be quickly made by any one who is handy with an ax by splitting any soft wood log of a suitable size, hollowing it smoothly out, boring tour holes for legs and placing it where wanted. Watering troughs are easily made thus, except that larger logs are used and only about one-third the diameter of the log is first hewed away before hewing out the trough. Legs should not be put in the water troughs unless they are small, since they will be apt to split and leak, but proper bearings and clamps should be placed under them to raise them to the required height. To make a rack, select good white oak poles six inches in diameter. Peel the bark and bore one and one-half inch holes slanting inward. Rive out suitable pieces, two feet long, smooth them and fit the ends so that they may be driven tight; put legs to it so that it may be of a proper height and you will have a rack that for all practical purposes will be as good as the best.—Western Rural.