: • 150 



iliardy here and proved to be The ideal sheep for our needs. 

 Every year we have i>ut in new bucks, selected and kept 

 our best ewe lambs, and sold the buck lambs and the old 

 ewes. 



Our investment in sheep has never paid us less than 

 one hundred per cent, and many jears has paid us even 

 Tiiore than 'that. The higher we grade them up the better 

 they pay us, notwithstanding the fact that the higher they 

 are graded uj) the greater price we place upon the breeding 

 flock. As evidence of this fact, we have sheared from one 

 hundred and seven sheep six hundred and thirty-three 

 I)Ounds of wool in the grease, but free of burrs and dirt. 

 Although our lambs Avere unusually late this season, they 

 have been dressed and shi])|K'd. having made an average 

 dressed weight of about forty pounds. Their quality has 

 heen such as to tax our capacity for suj^plying them, and 

 •we have received the best price we have ever obtained. 



The sheep we started with were scrubs — just the ordinary 

 sheep of the county. Our farm is no better than many 

 other farms of the State, yet our sheep have proven to be a 

 better investment to us than money at comi»ound interest. 

 8till it is a fact that some farmers contend that there is 

 no money in live stock on the farm, and that, here in 

 Alabama, we cannoit afford to have anything but scrub cat- 

 tle, sheep and hogs. If the farmer who thinks this will try 

 in but a small way to imi)rove and build up his stock — 

 giving the business the same conservative thought and care 

 that brings success to other undertakings — lie will soon 

 have a good balance to the credit of the live stock account, 

 besides having the satisfaction of owning useful and ]>retty 

 animals. 



We try to keep only about one hundred ewes, and carry 

 them in the pasture along with about one hundred and 

 fifty cattle. The sheej) benefit the pasture by kee}»ing down 

 weeds. There is no objection to having tlie sheep and cattle 

 in the same pasture. We make our living from the farm, 

 conseiiU'^ntly everything upon the farm must pay its own 



