Part 11
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.
YARDS.
Experience has amply demonstrated that--in the climate of the Northern and Eastern States, where no grass grows from four to four and a half months in the winter, and where, therefore, all that can be obtained from the ground is the repeatedly frozen, unnutritious herbage left in the fall--it is better to keep sheep confined in yards, excepting where the ground is covered with snow. If suffered to roam over the fields at other times, they get enough grass to take away their appetite for dry hay, but not enough to sustain them; they fall away, and toward spring they become weak, and a large proportion of them frequently perish. Flocks of some size are here, of course, alluded to, and on properly stocked farms. A few sheep would do better with a boundless range.
Some let out their sheep occasionally for a single day, during a thaw; others keep them entirely from the ground until let out to grass in the spring. The former course is preferable where the sheep ordinarily get nothing but dry fodder. It affords a healthy laxative, and a single day's grazing will not take off their appetite from more than one succeeding dry feed. It is necessary, in the North, to keep sheep in the yards until the feed has got a good start in the spring, or they will get off from their feed--particularly the breeding ewes--and get weak at the most critical time for them in the year.
Yards should be firm-bottomed, dry, and, in the northern climate, kept well littered with straw. The yarding system is not practised to any great extent in the South; nor should it be, where sheep can get their living from the fields.
FEEDING-RACKS.
When the ground is frozen, and especially when covered with snow, the sheep eats hay well on the ground; but when the land is soft, muddy, or foul with manure, they will scarcely touch hay placed on it--or, if they do, will tread much of it into the mud, in their restlessness while feeding. It should then be fed in racks, which are more economical, even in the first-named case; since, when the hay is fed on the ground, the leaves and seeds, the most valuable part of the fodder, are almost wholly lost.
To make an economical _box-rack_--the one in most general use in the North--take six light pieces of scantling, say three inches square, one for each corner, and one for the centre of each side. Boards of pine or hemlock, twelve or fifteen feet long, and twelve or fourteen inches wide, may then be nailed on to the bottom of the posts for the sides, which are separated by similar boards at the ends, two and a half feet long. Boards twelve inches wide, raised above the lower ones by a space of from nine to twelve inches, are nailed on the sides and ends, which completes the rack. The edges of the opening should be made perfectly smooth, to prevent chafing or tearing out the wool. The largest dimensions given are suitable for the large breeds, and the smallest for the Saxon; and still smaller are proper for the lambs. These should be set on dry ground, or under the sheds; and they can be easily removed wherever necessary. Unless over-fed, sheep waste very little hay in them.
Some prefer the racks made with slats, or smooth, upright sticks, in the form of the common horse-rack. This kind should always be accompanied by a broad trough affixed to the bottom, to catch the fine hay which falls in feeding. These racks may be attached to the side of a building, or used double. A small lamb requires fifteen inches of space, and a large sheep two feet, for quiet, comfortable feeding; and this amount of room, at least, should be provided around the racks for every sheep.
With what is termed a _hole-rack_, sheep do not crowd and take advantage of each other so much as with log-racks; but they are too heavy and unnecessarily expensive for a common out-door rack. This rack is box-shaped, with the front formed of a board nailed on horizontally, or, more commonly, by nailing the boards perpendicularly, the bottoms on the sill of a barn, and the tops to horizontal pieces of timber. The holes should be at least eight inches wide, nine inches high, and eighteen inches from centre to centre.
In the South, racks are not so necessary for that constant use to which they are put in colder sections, as they are for depositories of dry food, for the occasional visitation of the sheep. In soft, warm weather, when the ground is unfrozen, and any kind of green herbage is to be obtained, sheep will scarcely touch dry fodder; though the little they will then eat will be highly serviceable to them. But in a sudden freeze, or on the occurrence of cold storms, they will resort to the racks, and fill themselves with dry food. They anticipate the coming storm by instinct, and eat an extra quantity of food to sustain the animal heat during the succeeding depression of temperature. They should always have racks of dry fodder for resort in such emergencies.
These racks should have covers or roofs to protect their contents from rain, as otherwise the feed would often be spoiled before but a small portion of it would be consumed. Hay or straw, saturated with water, or soaked and dried, is only eaten by the sheep as a matter of absolute necessity. The common box-rack would answer the purpose very well by placing on the top a triangular cover or roof, formed of a couple of boards, one hung at the upper edge with iron or leather hinges, so that it could be lifted up like a lid; making the ends tight; drawing in the lower edges of the sides, so that it should not be more than a foot wide on the bottom; inserting a flow; and then mounting it on, and making it fast to, two cross-sills, four or five inches square, to keep the floor off from the ground, and long enough to prevent it from being easily overturned. The lower side-board should be narrow, on account of the increased height given its upper edge by the sills.
A rack of the same construction, with the sides like those described for the hole-rack, would be still better, though somewhat more expensive; or the sides might consist of rundles, the top being nailed down in either case, and the fodder inserted by little doors in the ends.
What is termed the _hopper-rack_, serving both for a rack and a feeding-trough, is a favorite with many sheep-owners. The accompanying cut represents a section of such a rack. A piece of durable wood, about four and a half feet long, six or eight inches deep, and four inches thick, having two notches, _a a_, cut into it, and two troughs, made of inch boards, _b b b b_, placed in these notches, and nailed fast, constitute the formation. If the rack is to be fourteen feet long, three sills are required. The ends of the rack are made by nailing against the side of the sill-boards that reach up as high as it is desired to have the rack; and nails driven through these end-boards into the ends of the side-boards, _f f_, secure them. The sides may be further strengthened by pieces of board on the outside of them, fitted into the trough. A roof may be put over all, if desired, by means of which the fodder is kept entirely from the weather, and no seeds or chaff can get into the wool.
TROUGHS.
Threshed grain, chopped roots, etc., when fed to sheep, should be placed in troughs. With either of the racks which have been described, except the last, a separate trough would be required. The most economical are made of two boards of any convenient length, ten to twelve inches wide. Nail the lower side of one upon the edge of the other, fastening both into a two or three-inch plank, fifteen inches long, and a foot wide, notched in its upper edge in the form required. In snowy sections they are turned over after feeding, and when falls of snow are anticipated one end is laid on the yard-fence.
Various contrivances have been brought to notice for keeping grain where sheep can feed on it at will, a description of which is omitted, since it is not thought best, by the most successful stock-raisers, in feeding or fattening any quadrupeds, to allow them grain at will, stated feeds being preferred by them; and the same is true of fodder. If this system is departed from in using depository racks, as recommended, it is because it is rendered necessary by the circumstances of the case. A Merino store-sheep, allowed as much grain as it chose to consume, would be likely to inflict injury on itself; and grain so fed would, generally speaking, be productive of more damage than benefit.
BARNS AND SHEDS.
Shelters, in northern climates, are indispensable to profitable sheep-raising; and in every latitude north of the Gulf of Mexico, they would probably be found advantageous. An animal eats much less when thus protected; he is more thrifty, less liable to disease, and his manure is richer and more abundant. The feeding may be done in the open yard in clear weather, and under cover in severe storms: for, even in the vigorous climate of the North, none but the breeders of Saxons make a regular practice of feeding under cover.
Humanity and economy alike dictate that, in the North, sheep should be provided with shelters under which to lie nights, and to which they can resort at will. It is not an uncommon circumstance in New York and New England for snow to fall to the depth of from twenty to thirty inches within twenty-four or forty-eight hours, and then to be succeeded by a strong and intensely cold west or northwest wind of several days continuance, which lifts the snow, blocking up the roads, and piling huge drifts to the leeward of fences, barns, etc.
A flock without shelter will huddle closely together, turning their backs to the storm, constantly stepping, and thus treading down the snow as it rises about them. Strong, close-coated sheep do not seem to suffer as much from the cold, for a period, as would be expected. It is, however, almost impossible to feed them enough, or half enough, under such circumstances, without an immense waste of hay--entirely impossible, indeed, without racks. The hay is whirled away in an instant by the wind; and, even if racks are used, the sheep, leaving their huddle, where they were kept warm and even moist by the melting snow in their wool, soon get chilled, and are disposed to return to their huddle. Imperfectly filled with food, the supply of animal heat is lowered, and, at the end of the second or third day, the feeble ones sink down hopelessly, the yearlings, and those somewhat old, receive a shock from which nothing but the most careful nursing will enable them to rally, and even the strongest suffer an injurious loss in condition.
Few persons, therefore, who own as many as forty or fifty sheep, attempt to get along without some kind of shelters, which are variously constructed, to suit their tastes or circumstances. A sheep-barn, built upon a side-hill, will afford two floors: one underneath, surrounded by three sides of wall, should open to the south, with sliding or swinging doors to guard against storms; and another may be provided above, if the floors are perfectly tight, with proper gutters to carry off the urine; and sufficient storage for the fodder can be furnished by scaffolds overhead. They may also be constructed with twelve or fifteen-feet posts on level ground, allowing the sheep to occupy the lower part, with the fodder stored above.
In all cases, however, _thorough ventilation should be provided_; for of the two evils, of exposure to cold or of too great privation of air, the former is to be preferred. Sheep cannot long endure close confinement without injury. In all ordinary weather, a shed, closely boarded on three sides, with a light roof, is sufficient protection; especially if the open side is shielded from bleak winds, or leads into a well-inclosed yard. If the floors above are used for storage, they should be made tight, that no hay, chaff, or dust can fall upon the fleece. The sheds attached to the barn are not usually framed or silled, but are supported by some posts of durable timber set in the ground. The roofs are formed of boards battened with slats. The barn has generally no partitions within, and is entirely filled with hay.
There are many situations in which open sheds are very liable to have snow drifted under them by certain winds, and they are subject in all severe gales to have the snow carried over them to fall down in large drifts in front, which gradually encroach on the sheltered space, and are very inconvenient, particularly when they thaw. For these reasons, many prefer sheep-houses covered on all sides, with the exception of a wide doorway for ingress and egress, and one or two windows for the necessary ventilation. They are convenient for yarding sheep, and the various processes for which this is required; as for shearing, marking, sorting, etc., and especially so for lambing-places, or the confinement of newly-shorn sheep in cold storms. They should have so much space that, in addition to the outside racks, others can be placed temporarily through the middle when required.
The facts must not be overlooked--as bearing upon the question of shelter, even in the warmer regions of the country--that cold rains, or rains of any temperature, when immediately succeeded by cold or freezing weather, or cold, piercing winds, are more hurtful to sheep than even snow-storms; and that, consequently, sheep must be adequately guarded against them.
SHEDS. The simplest and cheapest kind of shed is formed by poles or rails, the upper end resting on a strong horizontal pole supported by crotched posts set in the ground. It may be rendered rain-proof by pea-vines, straw, or pine boughs. In a region where timber is very cheap, planks or boards, of a sufficient thickness not to spring downward, and thus open the roof, battened with slats, may take the place of the poles and boughs; and they would make a tighter and more durable roof. If the lower ends of the boards or poles are raised a couple of feet from the ground, by placing a log under them, the shed will shelter more sheep.
These movable sheds may be connected with hay-barns--"hay-barracks"--or they may surround an inclosed space with a stack in the middle. In the latter case, the yard should be square, on account of the divergence in the lower ends of the boards or poles, which a round form would render necessary.
Sheds of this description are frequently made between two stacks. The end of the horizontal supporting-pole is placed on the stack-pens when the stacks are built, and the middle is propped by crotched posts. The supporting-pole may rest, in the same way, on the upper girts of two hay-barracks; or two such sheds, at angles with each other, might form wings to this structure.
On all large sheep-farms, convenience requires that there be one barn of considerable size, to contain the shearing-floor, and the necessary conveniences about it for yarding the sheep, etc. This should also, for the sake of economy, be a hay-barn, where hay is used. It may be constructed in the corner of four fields, so that four hundred sheep can be fed from it, without racking flocks of improper size. At this barn it would be expedient to make the best shelters, and to bring together all the breeding-ewes on the farm, if their number does not exceed four hundred. The shepherd would thus be saved much travel at all times, and particularly at the lambing-time, and each flock would be under his almost constant supervision.
The size of this barn is a question to be determined entirely by the climate. For large flocks of sheep, the storage of some hay or other fodder for winter is an indispensable precautionary measure, at least in any part of the United States; and, other things being equal, the farther north, or the more elevated the land, the greater would be the amount necessary to be stored.
HAY-HOLDER. Where hay or other fodder is thrown out of the upper door of a barn into the sheep-yard--as it always must necessarily be in any mere hay-barn--or where it is thrown from a barrack or stack, the sheep immediately rush on it, trampling it and soiling it, and the succeeding forkfuls fall on their backs, filling their wool with dust, seed, and chaff. This is obviated by hay-holders--yards ten feet square--either portable, by being made of posts and boards, or simply a pen of rails, placed under the doors of the barns, and by the sides of each stack or barrack. The hay is pitched into this holder in fair weather, enough for a day's foddering at a time, and is taken from it by the fork and placed in the racks.
The poles or rails for stack-pens or hay-holders should be so small as to entirely prevent the sheep from inserting their heads in them after hay. A sheep will often insert his head where the opening is wide enough for that purpose, shove it along, or get crowded, to where the opening is not wide enough to withdraw the head, and it will hang there until observed and extricated by the shepherd. If, as often happens, it is thus caught when its foreparts are elevated by climbing up the side of the pen, it will continue to lose its footing in its struggles, and will soon choke to death.
TAGGING.