FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 103 



{i) Grow as long a staple as you possibly can without sacrificing- 

 quality, density or covering. 



(g) Let every farmer of Michigan who is not now a producer of wool 

 get a few sheep and by improved methods of feeding and breeding in- 

 struct those who have been longer at the business how they too can do 

 better. 



DISCUSSION. 

 LED BY ROBERT GIBBONS. 



Within the ])ast five years Michigan has retro-gTaclecI tifteen per cent in value <»i:" 

 wool prodncecl. We have gone more into the feeding of mutton and consequently 

 less valuable wool. Michigan mutton now sells highest in Buffalo markets of any 

 on the continent. We must hold this high position in the quality and quantity 

 ■of mutton, and at the same time improve both quantity and quality of our wool 

 product. This presents a difficult problem, but one that can be accomplished. 



The great trouble with Michig-an wool at the present day is that it is very un- 

 even. A buyer cannot now, as he could formerly, go to a certain locality and find 

 all the wool in that neighborhood alike. Now he has to select his supply of a cer- 

 tain g:rade from a large amount of wool he does not want. It thus costs a good 

 deal to get wool together, and this cost is lost to the producer. We are now using 

 no system whatever in breeding. The sheep owner uses a ram of one breed one 

 year and of another breed the next. Hence the fleeces found on his farm are not 

 easily graded, are mixed, lack uniformity, and hence bring a lower price. 



We can make a great improvement if men in a certain neighborhood would agree 

 on one kind of sheep and all grow that breed. The buyers could then afford to pay 

 more for the wool, as they would know beforehand what kind of wool was grown, 

 and they would not have to travel far and wide to find the wool they want. 



Our flocks have also lost in shearing ability from one to one and one-half pounds 

 per fleece on the average. This is due to the indiscriminate mixing of so many 

 breeds. This is a fatal mistake. We are losing qualities in the wool that we need. 

 If a man likes one kind of sheep let him stick to it, for he can succeed much better 

 Avith it than with some breed he does not like, and there is so great a diversity of 

 breeds now that every man can be suited. 



There is no fertilizer, commercial or otherwise, like a flock of sheep. With these 

 animals on it the farm is sure to improve in fertility. There are two hai-vests 

 besides, one of lambs and the otlier of wool. After an experience and observation 

 extending over a quarter of a century, I feel safe in saying that there is no class of 

 animals that more quickly and more eft'ectively improve both the farm and the 

 pocket-book than a flock of sheep. 



ECONOMICAL SHEEP FEEDING. 



A. M. WELCH, IONIA. 



Economical sheep feeding is the topic assigned me; had it been profit- 

 able sheep feeding I think there would have been more interest in the 

 subject at the present time. 



It seems as if there has been a disposition on the part of drovers and 

 commission men and feeders themselves to run the price for feeders so 

 high in the fall that there has been but very little or no profit in feeding 

 any kind of stock, and in many instances there has been a heavy loss. 

 But economical sheep feeding is my subject wiiether profitable or not, 



A few years ago sheep could be fed in 



ANY KIND OF HAPHAZARD WAV 



and yet be profitable. But times have changed, and sheep feeding as well 

 as everything else has had to change with the times. 



