Feeding Sheep for Market. 227 



FEEDING AND FATTENING SHEEP FOR 



MARKET. 



BY HENRY LANE, OF CORNWALL. 



There are somewhat over one million tons of haj har- 

 vested in Vermont annually. Of this amount, there are 

 fed to horses kept in the State for road, di-aft, or farm pur- 

 poses about 200,000 tons. To the cows kept for family 

 or the various dairy purposes, nearly 400,000 tons. To 

 neat cattle and sheep, for breeding or the growing of wool, 

 about 200,000 ; leaving from 200,000 to 300,000 tons of hay 

 to be disposed of annually, as t'lo producer may think, when 

 each crop is harvested, will bring him the most mbney. 



Over large portions of our State the sm"f ace is so un- 

 even that many if not most farms have more land suitable 

 for pasturing than mowing, can summer more stock than 

 they can winter. Along some of our streams, the inter- 

 vals, and especially in the Champlain valley, the lands are 

 suitable foi- mowing ; and farmers that have good natural 

 meadow lands generally think such lands more profitable 

 kept for hay than pasturing, and cons'^quently cut more hay 

 than they need to keep the stock summered on such farms. 

 I am wne of this class of farmers ; I can keep about twice 

 tlie stock in the winter that I summer. "This class of 

 fai-mers, at the close of each haying season, ask themselves 



