FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 369 



$4.86 for steers and $4.85 for hogs, and the average weight was, sheep 

 126j^ pounds, steers 1,354 pounds, and hogs 218i/^ pounds. From this 

 you can see they had to be all of good stock to average that weight. 



The foregoing facts, obtained from my experience, convince me 

 that sheep are, in general, the most profitable stock on the farm, espe- 

 cially on thin and high land. In conclusion I will say, keep none but 

 the best of whatever breed you have. They will pay when poor ones 

 lose. Sheep are easy to handle and easy to retain in an inclosure 

 that would not hold other stock, and they are the best weed destroy- 

 ers on the farm. Taking all things into consideration, the sheep cer- 

 tainly has much to commend it to the farmer. 



HOW TO START IN SHEEP. 



Wallaces' Farmer. 



When farmers in the corn and grass states reach the point where 

 they have their fields all fenced hog-tight and sheep-tight, they should 

 not delay for any considerable length of time getting a start in sheep. 

 It is not necessary to have a large flock. It is a good deal better not 

 to have it for two or three reasons: One is that sheep do not do well 

 with hogs and cattle. This is the reason why so few sheep are kept in 

 the hog and cattle country. Another reason is that those who have 

 had no exeperience in sheep would do well to advance slowly, and, if 

 need be, retreat rapidly. Twenty-five ewes and a good buck are as 

 many as the inexperienced farmer should start with. The expense of 

 these is comparatively small, the possible loss therefore not great in 

 case the man should prove not to be a fit man to handle sheep. There 

 are some men of this kind. The chances of loss., however,, are very 

 small where the farmer has any kind of sheep gumption about him. 



There are a whole lot of little things to be learned in growing- 

 sheep. The sheep has less sense than anything else grown on the 

 farm unless it might possibly be a very stupid old hen. They have 

 been so long kept under subjection that they have no mind of their 

 own and the farmer must do their thinking for theili. There is a 

 whole lot of experience to be^ learned in handling the lambs on ac- 

 count of this sheep stupidity. In fact, there are a lot of details in this 

 as well as in every business which can not be learned on paper. 



Why, then, do we urge farmers to keep a small flock of sheep?' 

 First, on a quarter section farm twenty-five ewes and their lambs can 

 be kept with practically no loss in the capacity of the farm to grow 

 other crops and live stock. To that extent they can be used as scaven- 

 gers. They are especially valuable in keeping down weeds, and even 

 if they did not pay a ceuu of profit they would more than pay for them- 

 selves in this line of work. There is scarcely a weed on the farm that 

 the sheep will not eat. The only two our sheep have ever balked at 

 are mullen and thistle. We will never get the weed pest under con- 

 trol properly until we try our hand at sheep. 

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