684 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



scarcity of sheep is another. But even where a small flock of sheep is 

 kept on a farm, it is seldom used thus. The only other practical way 

 of removing such weeds is with the hoe. With prices of labor as at 

 present this would not be practicable. As a rule it would not pay. 



To the farmers of the northwestern states this question is one of 

 much importance. 



The soils of such lands are weedy, very weedy. Their condition is 

 simply a disgrace to the farming practiced there, and on many farms it 

 is becoming worse. This is putting it strongly, but I will not modify 

 the statement. Men ought to be ashamed to allow their farms to remain 

 in such a condition Avith weeds. It may not be the fault of many of 

 those who till them that they became so, but it will be their fault if they 

 remain so. Corn is one of the most effective cleaning crops that can be 

 grown, but it requires no argument to show that corn will not clean 

 farms while weeds are allowed to go to seed in myriads in very many 

 of the corn crops grown. More fences are wanted to hedge in sheep. 

 More sheep are wanted to glean amid the corn fields. More corn fields 

 are wanted to aid in cleaning the land and more farmers are wanted 

 with the determination to have clean farms. Sheep must be given the 

 opportunity to do what they can in helping the farmer to fight suc- 

 cessfully the battle against weeds in this age in which a knowledge of 

 the use of the hoe is becoming a lost art. 



FEEDING SHEEP FOR ]\IARKET. 



JAS. KEA, BEFORE THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE EASTERN MONTANA WOOL 

 GROWERS ASSOCIATION, 1905. 



"Western sheep or lambs direct from the grazing grounds have never 

 eaten a bite of any kind of grain, and they don't know the taste of it, 

 no more than you or I know what a bite of the moon would taste like. 



The sheep that are fed on the 'full feed" plan are put in large sheds 

 which contain long troughs full of grain, and racks full of hay. The 

 trough is so constructed that the grain runs down where it can be reached 

 by the sheep night and day. Some of this feeding is done in open pens, 

 but generally the weather will not permit this outdoor feeding. 



"Although fresh off the cars and hungry as wolves from the long jour- 

 ney they will turn from the grain, because thoy do not know what it is, 

 and dig into the hay to satisfy their hunger. After filling upon the hay 

 they go nosing around the pen to see what there is to find, and they nib- 

 ble on the grain now and then, and about the time they realize what it is 

 they are on full feed, eating all they can. It takes from three days to a 

 week to get sheep or lambs on full feed. A light feed is given for the 

 first two weeks or a month, and then increased in quantity as the feeding 

 period reaches an end. Lambs require a lighter feed than old sheep. 



