Sheep, Swine, and Poultry: Embracing the History and Varieties of Each; The Best Modes of Breeding; Their Feeding and Management; Together with etc.Jennings, Robert
Science
Sheep, Swine, and Poultry: Embracing the History and Varieties of Each; The Best Modes of Breeding; Their Feeding and Management; Together with etc.
Jennings, Robert
Poultry; Sheep; Swine
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account