On the other hand, sheep cost a good deal to feed when the grazing season was over, and they had to be fed "in the stall." A document dated in the seventh year of Cyrus states that 32 sheep required each day 1 _pi_ 28 _qas_ (or about 95 quarts) of grain, while 160 full-grown animals consumed daily 4 _pi_ 16 _qas_, or more than 240 quarts. In the reign of Cambyses 1 _pi_ 4 _qas_ of fodder were needed daily for 20 old sheep, 100 _qas_ for 100 younger sheep, and the same amount also for 200 lambs. At this time 2 _pi_ of grain cost 6½ shekels; consequently the cost of keeping the 20 old sheep alone was about 10s 6d. a day. To this had to be added the wages of the shepherds, who were free Bedâwin. Hence, it is not wonderful that the owner demanded 7 shekels, or 21s., for the sheep he had to sell.
In the _Edin_ or "field," however, their keep came to but little. The pasturage was common property, and it was only the wages of the Aramean shepherds who looked after the flock which involved an outlay. The five shepherds who, in the tenth year of Nabonidos, were paid for their services by the overseer of the royal flocks in the town of Ruzabu received 30 shekels of silver and a _gur_ of grain. The _gur_ contained 180 _qas_, and since in the first year of Cyrus two men received 2 _pi_ 30 _qas_, or 102 _qas_, of grain for their support during a month of thirty days, we may, perhaps, infer that the wages were intended to cover the third part of a month. In this case each man would have been paid at the rate of 9 shekels, or 37s., a month. It is, however, possible that the wages were really intended for the full month. The ancient Greeks considered a quart of wheat a sufficient daily allowance for a grown man, and 180 _qas_ would mean about 1{ ~VULGAR FRACTION THREE FIFTHS~} of a quart a day for each man.
We may gather from a contract dated the 5th of Sivan in the eighteenth year of Darius that it was not customary to pay for any sheep that were sold until they had been driven into the city, the cost of doing so being included in the price. The contract is as follows: "One hundred sheep of the house of Akhabtum, the mother of Sa-Bel-iddin, the servant of Bel-sunu, that have been sold to La-Bel, the son of Khabdiya, on the 10th day of the month Ab in the eighteenth year of Darius the king: The sheep, 200 in number, must be brought into Babylon and delivered to Supêsu, the servant of Sa-Bel-iddin. If 15 manehs of silver are not paid for the sheep on the 10th of Ab, they must be paid on 20th of the month. If the money, amounting to 15 manehs, is not paid, then interest shall be paid according to this agreement at the rate of one shekel for each maneh per month." Then come the names of eight witnesses and a priest, the date, and the place of registration, which was a town called Tsikhu.