THE PROPER WAY TO FEED SHEEP.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1627, 7 December 1882, Page 3

THE PROPER WAY TO FEED SHEEP.

hx recommending? that sllcep would be kept by the farmer in combination with his tillage operations for the reason that aheepkeeping helps farming to pay,' it should not be forgotten that the obverse argument is equally worthy pi qonsideration — viss., that farming helps sheepkeeping to pay. It is assumed by many that because the usual Australian practice is to keep sheep on the natural pasturage of large unimproved properties, such system is the best. Those who come to this conclusion, ' however, tall into a grave error. During the recent drought in New South Wales hundreds of tons of hay and atiaw have been purchased by the owners of largo squattages in order to save the ' lives of their more valuable sheep, while thousands of daatha wexe j taking place among the other flocks, j Similar droughts with their wholesale | losses ot stock, are of periodical occur- j rence, and these lessons, are endeavouring ' to teach stockowners that sheepkeeping i should not be undertaken by itself, but , in combination with farming. Instead I of having to bring hay from a distance I and at great expense during times of ' drought, it would be better to grow it on the spot ; and even in the mallee country hay can be grown. Not only in the dry pastures of the northern districts is the fact demonstrated | that the proper way to feed sheep is in I combination with a due share of locally- j raised farm pioduce, but the position holds equally good where improvements are carried on to the extent of including subdivision fencing and cultivated firass.es. An instructive experiment in this connection was undertaken by Mr Dunkold, j whose property fonus portion of the rich Western district ot Victoria. Mr Dunkohl's experiment took place dm ing the droui/ht ot 187!) ; but it h.i& been found so successful that what was done under pressure of threatened los>s lit that time has been \oluntanly continued since owing to proven icnmnerative results. During the summer of the year mentioned, Mr Dunkeld found some of the finest sheep in hi& flocks beginning to sicken and die. At Hist he could not make out M hat was the matter with the sheep, as they weie m fine condition, and had abundonce of dry feed and w atci . When, however, they commenced to dio, -and some of them were opened, it Mas found that they had not been able to digest the ilry grass. The stomachs of moat of them wcio neatly empty, and the intestines chocked up, the contents having evidently been there for home time, and quite diy and hard. These ewes were the best in the place, and had been i mining by j themselves in a small paddock which was not provided with a bait trough. The general flock, which had plenty of salt, stood the drought better, and losses did not occur among them until nearly three weeks later on. Salt being a tonic, acting as an aid and stimulant to the digestive organs, evidently helped these sheep to some extent. " Still salt," Mr Dunkeld reports, "although it may prolong" the lite of sheep a little, will not keep them from dying duriug a drought, and we found that we would have to aid them in some way or to let them die. We commenced with bran, and as there was no time to lose, simply pegged down boards on the ground on their edge, making long troughs 14in. wide, with i batten railing ISiu. high, or 12iu. from top of tioughs, to prevent the sheep tiom getting into and destroying the feed by dirtying it ; filling the salt troughs with bran also is a sine and speedy way of , getting them to tnke to it. We shepfieided the sheep lound the tioughs tor ! about an hour, and that was all that was | required. Them was no waste ; alter the I hist morning the bran w us nlwiys cleat ed ! out, and in a few dajs the sliccp knew feeding time, and came stringing down to the troughs from all parts of the paddock. Astheie weie "2000 cues to feed y e had about 000 ft. of tronghing altogether, sheep feeding fiom eivoli side and standing as close n* they could pack, taking vefy little over a toot of loom each, so fclmt nearly if noc half ot the Hock wcie accommodated at one time, and as soon as the first lot foil out the. othei^ were waitim,' to take their place. The laxative effects ot the bum weie soon appai cut, and the flock began to impiove. After a time we altjred the feed to about three paits good oatiMi hay cliafl to one part hi, in, and the sheep seemed to piefer it to In .in alone. With this we continued to feed until about a week after the fiist good lainfall, when further continuance was found unnecessary. We be<;an to feed on 23rd Mai eh, and erased on 21st Apiil, and I believe saved jOO of oui owes. Had we commenced, say, tlnce weeks sooner we would have lost but few sheep, and would also have had o bettei lambing. As it horn first to last, we lost a total ot 400 ewes. When feeding with bran alone wo allowed at the rate of 0^11) per sheep, and afterMaids about 0/lb chafl' and o}lb bian mi\ed." The expense of Mr DunUeld's feeding while it lasted was at the late of 3d per sheep per week; yet he says it fully repaid him, not only in saving the lives of valuable sheep, hut also in the great improvement to the growth and quality of the wool, and the general condition of the sheep, especially the Limbing ewes. So marked were the good results in these lespectb that Mr Dunkeld icjioits his intention of still further impiou'ng by adding a mixture of sliced

iiuingolds to the other food. The testimony adduced by thi<j uvperimentor v ith respect to the rennweiative character of his iecding system must l>c I'eg.n (led db specially .significant when it is ttiketi into siuuount that the fooil li.ul to be purchased, and it indicates how v ide a mai gin of piolifc remains tor the fdituer who not only biucdb hib o\\n sheep, but raises the hay, oata, Imm, roots, and other fodder for them fiom the same farm on which they graze. Apait from the losses to which sijiiiittagekepfc Uieep arc liable through deaths by drought, they me also victims to many diseases whose origin aie traceable mainly to a want of change in their food. Sheep, for example, that have become flukey owing to constant grazing upon pastures from which the medicinal herbage has been eaten out have been cured by simply feeding them for a couple of hours a day during a fortnight over a field of beet root. In every way that the subject can be looked at the proper way to keep aheep ia in combination with the tillage operations of the farmer. Agriculture by itself is as incomplete as sheepkeeping by itself is wasteful and risky, but worked in combination with each other. a perfect system is attained.— Melbourne leader.