WINTER FEED FOR SHEEP.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1050, 18 March 1879, Page 2

WINTER FEED FOR SHEEP.

The greafc difficulty experienced by sheepfarmers is to provide a sufficient supply of nutritious green feed to keep *heir breeding ewes and especially, their young stock, in good condition during the winter and early spring-, two points of the greatest importance, indeed essential to successful sheepfartning. To meet this necessity, there is nothing to compare with rye and rape, sown either together or in separate parts of the same fields. By sowing during jFebraary, or in the early part of March, if possible, an ample supply of feed can be obtained iu ordinary seasons by the beginning of May, an:l it can be constantly fed off during the winter and spring months, only requiring a short occasional spell, as it continues to grow with remarkable rapidity. A great recommendation is that rye does not scour like ryegrass or green oats, and is of a very fattening nature, promoting in a wonderful degree the growth and sonndness of the wool j while a certain proportion of rape along with it increases the quantity of feed per acre, and makes an agreeable change for the sheep. As the rye is a small grain, and the plants tiller out wonderfully, a bushel of seed per acre is sufficient, if carefully sown on stubbles or fallow land. It does not require first-class soil, but thrives well ou light lands like the greater part of this province. The best mode of sowing it is on the stubbles or fallow at this season, and to " rib " it in with the plough by turning over a furrow of from 2in. to 2-Jin., then to harrow it well, and finish svith the Cambridge presser, or an ordinary roller. If rape is to be grown with the rye, the best plan is to sow it after the rye is ribbed in and well harrowed, and then to put the Cambridge presser only over it. This operation sufficiently covers the rape seed in the soft ground. About lib of rape is sufficient to sow per acre in conjunction with rye. There is a new steel double furrow plough recently introduced into the province which, with two horse3, gets over the ground very expert itiously. Rye may also be sown profitably on newly broken-up lands in the end of autumn, or even in the early winter on warm dry soils, and will afford abundance of feed in August and September. The land is greatly benefited by being pastured in the above manner, and when the spring grasses render the rape and rye no longer of consequence to the stock, it is the best system to allow the rye to attain a height of about six inches, and then plough it in as green manure. The land c^n then be at once sown down with English grasses as late as the beginning of October, with an almost certainty of doing well, if properly rolled.—' VVaipawa Mail.'