122 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



BARNS OR SHEDS FOR SHEEP FEEDING. 



It might be expected that we would explain and recommend to you 

 some elaborate plan for a sheep barn, but we have not taken the trouble 

 to do so, for we are not in favor of them for practical sheep feeding 

 purposes. They do well enough for wealthy farmers who have the 

 money, but for the average man who is in the business or goes into it to 

 make money it would be utter nonsense to build an expensive barn to 

 feed sheep in. A rough shed placed on high well drained soil, which 

 affords protection from wet storms, will serve every purpose admirably. 

 Of course there is a great advantage in having a shed or barn for feeding 

 so constructed that the coarse fodder and litter, as well as grain, may be 

 stored in the same building. One advantage of an open shed or one put 

 up with rough lumber is that the sheep pens are well ventilated and the 

 lambs are kept cool. I strongly believe that the best results will be 

 secured in fattening sheep where they are kept cool, and yet more or less 

 closely confined. It should be emphasized that sheep must be kept dry. 

 Not only their pens underfoot but also their fleeces. Sheep, and espe- 

 cially fattening sheep, will endure a great amount of cold, if only they 

 are kept dry, without any inconvenience or loss to the sheep. 



KIND OF SHEEP TO FATTEN. 



Just a few words in regard to the sheep themselves and their relation 

 to economical feeding. Without question, leaving out the western sheep 

 which are frequently shipped in from the west to be fed, the most profit- 

 able sheep to raise or buy to feed are grade coarse wool lambs, which are 

 produced by crossing our common, usually high grade Merino ewes 

 with some of the English mutton breeds. And all I care to have to say 

 about the best mutton breeds for crossing purposes at this time is that 

 more depends upon the individual ram selected than upon the breed. 

 Oftentimes there is as much difference between animals of the same 

 breed as between animals of different breeds, that is, from a practical 

 standpoint. 



The sheep feeding in Michigan is largely limited to the feeding of these 

 grade lambs, and we believe that as time goes on fewer old sheep will be 

 fed, for the western ranchmen will sooner or later learn that there is 

 more profit in disposing of a lamb before or at one year old, if it has been 

 properly handled, than at any time thereafter. But whether old sheep 

 or lambs are fed, they should be first healthy, and second, early maturing. 

 No attempt should ever be made to fatten lambs if they are not 

 in vigorous health, free from internal and external parasites. In our 

 own ex[)erii'nce we have been more or less annoyed by these two varietic^s 

 of pests in our flocks, and we are satisfied that our neglect to ptompll.v 

 eradicate these pests at times has been a serious menace to our financial 

 interests. It will be only necessary or possible to suggest here a remedy 

 for the external parasites, such as ticks, lice and scab Thorough dipping 

 is a sure remedy. 



The most profitable lamb to feed will, other things being equal, be that 

 lan'b which has made a steady and rapid growth from birth to the time 



