Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1874 — Keeping Sheep in Good Condition. [ARTICLE]

Keeping Sheep in Good Condition.

® 7l\i ~ ■ u v: ——; The ample feed this fall ought to bring all sheep in first-rate condition for w inter. Both hay and grain Will lie high, and, therefore, it will by hoove every flock-master to economize in every practicable way. Nevertheless, it is not economy stint any animal, much less a sheep, in its food; for on plenty of provender,'carefully fed, depends the integrity of the fleece. It matters but little whether food he in the shape of hay or grain, for sheep will winter perfectly and improve in flesh on good hay alone it kept comfortably warm. Indeed, 4 per cent, of the live weight of an animal of good hay fed daily will not only keep an animal in good health hut furnish a full average gain; according to the experiments of a committee of the Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts, of about two pounds of flesh daily. more than corn; and while sheep do w ell enough on hay alone they will do far better if fed both hay and grain ; and this is also much cheaper to the farmer than a nearly exclusive diet of either hay or grain. ‘" - ' Whatever the feed he good results cannot be expected unless the animals be kept perfectly comfortable. The building where sheep are kept, whether closed shed or stable, must be thoroughly ventilated; for a slice]), while it must he kept in a pretty uniform temperature to reach the best results in wool and carcass, at the same time must have plenty of pure air They are essentially an Alpine race, and only because their wool and flesh is so necessary to man have they become so universally domesticated and* widely distributed. Ticks are often exceedingly vexatious to flock-masters. These parasites thrive on indifferently-kept sheep. If the sheep be fat and healthy they usually disuppear of their own aeeord, and for two principal reasons: one,•. that parasites cannot live where mueli oil is present and a fat animal is always oily; another reason is that they cannot penetrate to the veins so easily lor their sustenance. Hence a little oil meal fed *ocrasionally "is~good to i idn flock of these pests, since., a portion usually finds its way quickly to and through the pores of the skin. Hut if fed liberally on good hay and corn or other grain and kept comfortably winm and w ith good ventilation but little trouble will be experienced from ticks, and when shorn tlie wool, from its tine and homogeneous quality, commands a much higher-price Arum the expert buyer than that of wool whose growth lias been repeatedly checked and therefore rendered w eak from irregular feeding. Sheep allowed to fall away front cold or bad feeding in w inter and Hum by extraWcltding suddcnly forced into growth will be troubled with shedding of wool. Tins wild be an additional reason why they should Be well looked after in the fall and winter. Western Rural. .