27G STATE BOARD OF AGEICULTURE. 



the wisdom .or foolishness or neglect of their owners. Some have been over-fed, 

 and kept in warm stables and pampered until they have become very tender and 

 'debilitated; others, and by far too great a number, have been too much neg- 

 lected, and consequently brought but small profits to their owners. The medium 

 ■course between these extremes is the proper one to pursue. They should receive 

 .at all seasons of the year a sufficient quantity of wholesome food to keep them 

 in good condition, in the summer they should be frequently changed from 

 one locality on the farm to another ; they should not be kept too long on the 

 summer-fallow, but removed as soon as the briars and weeds are nipped off ; 

 short feed is better than overgrown, rank herbage of any kind ; salt is essential, 

 and should be given them as often as once a week. They always seem to pre- 

 fer the feed grown on high and dry land ; do not thrive well on low, marshy 

 ground. Will frequently drink if pure water is accessible, but will get along 

 better than cattle or horses without it. Sheep should have their feet trimmed 

 once or twice during the year, if they require it, and the merinos will ; other 

 kinds do not usually need any care in this direction. A few drops of tar placed 

 in cavities around the horns of merino rams will prevent the flies from doing 

 their work, which will surely prove fatal to the sheep if not attended to without 

 ■delay. It is well to shelter all sheep from the chilling storms of autumn and 

 winter, but should not be too closely confined. Their stables require to be well 

 ventilated and littered with straw. It is well to feed them once a day, at some 

 distance from the barn, in order to give them exercise and at the same time 

 give the stables a good airing. No stock should ever be compelled to breathe 

 impure air or drink filthy water. It is as deleterious to their well-being as it 

 is to the human family. Good hay made from clover and timothy gi'ass, cut 

 before it becomes too ripe, and properly cured, makes excellent food for all 

 kinds of sheep. This, in connection with a very little oats and shorts mixed 

 together, or occasionally a few roots, will keep them in good condition. Corn 

 may be given to sheep intended for the butcher, but for breeding ewes given in 

 any considerable quantities is not as good as lighter feed. Lambs from ewes 

 kept in stables and highly fed are generally weak and inactive. If there be hay 

 and corn fodder and straw designed for the winter feed, it is well to give them 

 a foddering of each daily, not keeping them exclusively on corn fodder for six 

 or eiglit weeks, and then on hay or straw. Great care should be taken to pre- 

 vent chaff and hay seed from getting into the wool. Hay or straw should never 

 be dropped from a stack or mow upon the backs of sheep. If necessary to catch 

 one, do it by gently grasping the hind leg, or by placing the hands around 

 under the neck. Never, under any circumstances, hold them by their wool. 

 A little care with regard to these things will prevent future inconvenience and 

 trouble. Every farmer should have a standard of excellence of what he deems 

 to be the most profitable sheep for him to raise, and this standard should have 

 reference to the ample capacity for lungs and digestive organs, general hardi- 

 ness, size, form and wool-producing qualities ; and if there be any in the flock 

 that do not come up to it, they should be drawn out and fattened for the 

 butcher, or otherwise disposed of. Better sell them for what their pelts are 

 worth than continue to breed from inferior animals. And if there be any with 

 fleeces saturated with oily, gummy substances, and of light carcasses, that are 

 badly pinched up in cold, wet weather, be sure and draw them out. A supera- 

 bundance of oil is always at the expense of the constitution and of cleansed 

 wool. If farmers would be more particular in selecting breeding stock we would 

 see a better class of sheep in the country, that would well pay for all the extra 



