1905.] SHEEP. 49 



haps he could afford to do that, but for the first year it is better 

 for him to carry them over if he can. Of course, he wants to 

 increase his fiock, and he should save about twenty per cent, 

 of his best ewes and lambs for that purpose. Then, of course, 

 the following year he gets a good fleece, and that helps to equal- 

 ize the cost of carrying them over. Unless he is in urgent 

 need of the money, the first year I think he should be willing to 

 deny himself and raise sufficient crops to carry the sheep 

 through until the second year. He will be better ofif for it in 

 the end. However, that is a matter for him to determine at the 

 time. You cannot lay down any hard and fast rule in regard 

 to that. Every man must be governed according to his own 

 circumstances to a large extent. 



Well, suppose that fall is coming on ; our young man wants 

 some meat for his family. There is no place where he can get 

 such good meat as right in his own flock. Of course, mutton 

 is a winter meat. It is not particularly a summer food. Lamb 

 is more like a summer food. He can take a good wether, and 

 if slaughtered and cared for properly, no better meat can be 

 had. Just let me give you a few directions in regard to that. 

 Do not feed it anything for twenty-four hours before slaughter- 

 ing. You will forget what I say about that now unless I bring 

 that out clearly before you. Let me tell you why that is. It 

 is because the undigested food in the sheep's stomach, when it 

 is slaughtered, is apt to flavor the meat. That is why it is best 

 to fast the sheep before killing. Whatever you feed the sheep 

 that remains undigested in the first stomach is apt to flavor the 

 flesh if you kill it while it is undigested, but if you wait until 

 it is digested and gone into the other stomachs, you get no bad 

 odors in the flesh. You can give the sheep water it you like. 

 Dress the sheep in a perfectly plain way. Do not try to 

 embellish it with any fancy ornamentations, such as you see 

 upon some carcasses that are hung up. Of course, you should 

 not kill in fly time, but wait until the flies are all gone, until 

 well along in November. Now, if your house cellar will keep 

 meat without mould appearing on it, you are all right. After 

 you have slaughtered your sheep if you will then hang your 

 carcass in a cellar and take decent care of it, it will be all right 

 to hang there until the next April, if you wish to have it, and it 

 will grow better every day. It is not fit to use at all until it has 

 been there a month. I used to think that the reason that milk 



Agr. — 4 



