Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-05-13
SHEEP IN THE NORTHWEST.
Proper Food and Housing for Them in
Winter. - r

"A Sneep SneQ SnOulu nave the opening
to the south. It should be on sloping
ground and be closed all around except
at the places of entrance. Inside should
be racks for fodder and low troughs for
grain and other food, and by all means
there ought to be good ventilation, but
no draft. Behind the sheds the supply
of hay may be deposited in a long, low
stack, reaching the length of the shed.
The shed wall at this side, supposlng
it to be of boards, may have an opening
of two feet in width, along it's whole
length just above the haystacks, which
are arranged along the wall inside.
Through this opening the racks can be
conveniently filled, and the opening can
beclosed at any time bydrop boards hung
on leather or iron hinges. In front Of
the shed should be a large yard with a
tight board fence.
In good weather the sheep may be al
lowed to pasture in well drained mead
ows, and in cabbage or cornfields after
the crop has been cured. Sheep like such
food and fatten on it. While it lasts
little or no u need be made to the
~haystacks. It is well, too, to have sew.
eral big Jumps of rock salt in the yard
and in the sheds within reach of the
sheep. If it is possible to lave the water
where they can get to it at will so much
the better; there need then be no fea:
that they will drink so much in cold
weather as to reduce their temperature
too much.
Some farmers think that sheep should
never be watered in very cold weather,
with NOW on the ground, asserting that
the snow gives moisture enough, and
that water then reduces their tempera-
ture to such an extent that they cannot
withstand the temperature of the
weather. The fallacy of such a theory
is very apparent. In summer time,
with an abundance of green food, the
sheep drink water when they can get it.
How much more then do they need it in
winter, when they subsist largely, and
in the northwest entirely, on dry feed.
Without water they are compelled 20
eat snow, which. as many of US know
from personal experience, does not salts.
fly like a good drink.
On the contrary, it serves to chill the
stomach and mouth, which is invariably
followed by a feverish condition of the
mucous membranes. In of
this, digestion becomes seriously i'm
paired, for the time being at least, AID
sometimes it is entirely arrested. Nox-
ious gases then generate in the abdomen
of the suffering animal; high fever sets
in, followed by actual blood poisoning.
and the victim dies. If it's abdomen is
opened, it is found to be filled with I'M
digested food, the stomach is liberated,
and sometimes the bowels are puncuu.el,
permitting part of their contents to es-
cape into the abdominal cavity.
, The wner looks at the swollLl, rigid
carcass, shakes his head, and says that
the animal must have eaten some poison.
Gus weed in the hay, or that it has been
~'locoed." Ihave noticed time and again
that where sheep have been kept on dry
food many days in succession, and nib
bled snow because they could not get
water, some of them sickened and died
as described; while water was given them
once d day there was not Il sick animal
in the lot.
The interior of the shed should be well
. bedded with straw or leaves, so that the
sheep may be kept dry and warm. In
, the northwest hundreds Of sheep are
suffocated to death every winter through
"piling up on bitter cold nights in com
FORTRESS sheds in the vain effort to keer
warm. The man who loses sheep in this
way often destroys his entire next years
profits in a single night, and usually has
but his W gross neglect to thank fol
the loss. EARLY lambs, where they CAL
be properly cared for, mature earlier il
proportion than later ones; but unless
they and their dams can be well shell
tered most Of them will die, because
their mothers cannot provide enough
milk for them.
If n has milk producing feed ani
warm quarters there is a good profit il
early lambs in the northwest; otherwise
no matter what the temptations may be
the ewes should be bred so that the lamb:
will not be born till the grass has vel
''started" in the spring, when the genia
sunshine. combined with an abundant
supply of mothers milk, will give thu
frisky youngsters a rapid and sturdy
growth.-F. w. Anderson.
Live Stock Points.
Oregon alone will send to market this
season $4,000 head of beef cattle in un
usually prime condition.
Live stock from all countries will b.
admitted for competition at the Worlds
fair. Canada is expected to make a dis