58- SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



costs but little and has no marketable price. But it would not be 

 unfair to reckon 6 per cent on lands at $10 per acre, and two per 

 cent, on cost offence at $1 per rod, and allow thirty-five acres to 

 100 sheep, pasturage would thus be worth about 30 cts. per head. 

 "Washing and shearing would not be far from 12 1-2 cts. per head. 

 From reports received of the sheep now kept in the county, it 

 appears that the average of fleeces is 4 1-2 lbs. per head, or washed 

 on the sheep 4 lbs. Flocks with the wethers excluded ought to 

 produce 75 per cent of lambs, and by breeding from the Cotswolds 

 more may be expected. Two dollars would not seem too large an 

 estimate for the lambs, and if old ewes are marketed or slaught- 

 ered with pelts at 50 cts., and tallow worth from 50 to 75 cts. per 

 carcase, it does not seem difficult to make them pay every year not 

 less than that sum. The winter manure, if the sheds are well 

 supplied with litter, would be at least one cord for every two tons 

 of hay consumed, or 30 cts per head. We should then have for an 

 average sheep of the flock the following account : 



De. 



400 lbs. of English hay for 130 days foddering, at 50 cts. per cwt. 

 Pasturage for the summer, 

 Washing and shearing, 



Total expense, 



Ce. 

 4 lbs. of wool washed on the sheep, at 40 cts. per lb. 

 I of value of one lamb at $'2.00, 

 Winter manure from sheds and yards. 



Net profit, $0 97 



Allowing that the flock has been bred by the farmer, they have 

 cost him $2 per head, and if the annual return is about $1 per 

 head, then the profit of sheep is 50 per cent, besides paying a fair 

 percentage for the use of land. 



Anything that can be taken off this cost enhances the profit. If 

 hay can be raised for less than $10 per ton, or if barley straw can 

 be raised for less than $5 per ton, or potatoes, beets, or turnips for 

 less than 15 cts. per bushel, or peas for less than $18 per hundred 

 weight, then these articles may be substituted for hay. And if by 

 crossing with a new breed, more or finer wool can be raised, and a 

 larger percentage of increase insured, then the profits may be 

 enhanced on the credit side. I have no doubt from examining the 

 statements of sheep keepers in this country, that aside from the 



