Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-04-18
Spring Management of Sheep.

As soon as the warm weather ap-
proaches and the grass appears, sheep be-
come restive and impatient for the pas
ture. This instinct should be repreSsed
till the ground has become thoroughly
dry, and the grass has acquired substance.
They ought, moreover, to be provided for
the change of food by the daily use of
roots for few days before turning out
The tendency to excessive purging which
is induced by the first spring feed, may
be checked by housing them at night and
feeding them for the first few days with a
little sound, sweet hay They must be
provided with pure water and salt; for,
though they may do tolerably well with
out either, yet thrift and freedom from
disease are cheaply secured by this slight
attention.
As to water, it may be said it is not in
dispensable in the summer pastures, since
the dews and the succulence of the feed
answer as substitutes; but a wide ex-
perience having demonstrated that free
access to it is advantageous, particularly
to those having lambs, it should be con-
sidered matter of importance on sheep
farm so as to arrange the pasture, if
possible, as to bring water into each of
them.
Salt is indispensable to the health, es-
pecially in the summer 1t is common to
give it once a week, while they are at
grass. 1t is still better to give them free
access to it, at all times, by keeping it in
a covered box, open on one side. Alarge
hollow log, with holes cut along the side
for the insertion of the heads of the ami
imals, answers very well. A sheep hav-
ing free access to salt at all times will
never eat too much of it; and it will take
its supply at such times and in such guam
titles as Nature demands, instead of eat
ing of it voraciously at stated periods, as
intermediate abstinence will stimulate it
to do. When salt is fed but once week,
it is better to have stated day, so that it
will not be forgotten; and it is well to lay
the salt on fiat stones-though if laid in
little handfuls ON the grass, very little of
it will be lost.
Dry, sweet pastures, and such as
abound in aromatic and bitter plants, are
best suited for sheep-walks. No animal,
with the exception of the goat, crops SO
great variety of plants. They eat many
which are rejected by the horse and the
OK, which are even essential to their own
wants. In this respect they are valuable
assistants to the husbandman, as they
feed greedily on wild mustard, burdock,
thistles, marsh -mellows, milk-weed and
various other offending plants; and the
Merino exceeds the more recent breeds in
the range of his selections.
In pastures, however, where the dry
stalks of the burdOck, or the hounds
tongue, or tory-weed have remained
standing over the winter, the burrs are
caught in the now long wool, and, if they
are numerous, the wool is rendered en-
tirely unmarketable and almost valueless
Even the dry prickles of the common OF
Canada thistles, where they are very
numerous, get into the neck-wool OF
sheep, as they thrust their heads under
and among them to crop the first scarce
feed of the northern spring; and, indie
pendently of injurlng the wool, they
make it difficult to wash and otherwise
handle the sheep. Indeed, it is matter
of the soundest policy to keep sheep Oh
the cleanest pastures, those free from
these and similar plants; and in regior
where they are pastured the year round
| they should be kept from contact will
them for some months prior to shearing
! Many prepare artificial pastures for theil
| hocks, which may be done with mum
Der of plants. Winter rye, or wheat sowI
early in the season, may be fed off in th'
fall, without injury to the crop: and, il
the following spring, the rye may be pas
tured till the stalks shoot up and begin Il
form head. This affords an early anC
nutritious food. Corn may be sown broad
cast, or thickly in drills, and either fec
off in the fields or cut and carried to th'
sheep in their folds. White mustard il
also a valuable crop for this purpose.
To give the sheep sufficient variety,
is better to diUide their range into severa
smaller ones, and change them as often
at least, as once week. They seek ia
vorite resting place, on a dry, elevated
part Of the field, which soon become
soiled. By removing them from this fo
a few days, rain will cleanse or the SUI
dry it, SO as to make it again suitable TO
them. More sheep may be kept, and il
better condition, where this practice i
adopted, than where they are confined tt
the same pasture.
No one who has observed with wha
eagerness sheep seek shade in hot wealth
er, and how they pant and apparently
suffer when hot sun is pouring down OF
their nearly naked bodies, will doub
that, both as matter of humanity an,
utility, they should be provided, durinj
the hot summer months, with bette
shelter than that afforded by common
ail-fence.-Ame11cd7a Stock Journal.
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