400 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



PROFITS IN SHEEP. 



E. Edmundson^ Before the Ida County Farmers' Institute. 



The profit in sheep very largely depends on the amount of care bestowed 

 upon them. Perhaps no better explanation could be given than my own 

 experience with a small flock of Shropshires. 



The first year I fed them largely on oats, straw and corn. I found when 

 shearing time came that a good deal of the straw had sifted down into the 

 wool, around the neck and head of the sheep, which took the edge oflE the 

 shears and also a little of the edges oflf my shearer's temper. 



When the wool was sold it was called chaff, and I got eight and one-half 

 cents per pound. I had expected to have quite a nice lot of ewe lambs in 

 the increase. I had just one. 



My next year I left the straw on the barn floor for bedding and got some 

 good racks to hold hay and grain as a grain feed, mostly oats. I bought a 

 recorded ram for that year and improved the flock very nicely, but when I 

 tried to sell the ram at half what he cost me, I was offered a little over a 

 quarter. From this on the sheep have done their full share of profits on the 

 farm. 



Last year's clip was an average of nine and one-half pounds per head, 

 selling at twenty cents net, giving a return of $1.90 for each head, includ- 

 ing five lambs which cut the average down. 



There is an old saying that a sheep never dies in debt to its owner. This 

 is not as near correct as it reads. Sheep sometimes get sick like any other 

 stock, with the difference that a sick sheep hardly ever recovers. 



Another fallacy is that sheep will live and grow fat on weeds. Mine 

 never seemed to do quite as well when not fed a little grain. They will eat 

 great quantity of weeds, however, and are a splendid scavenger on our 

 pastures, clearing up a poor pasture and finally making a smooth, clean sod, 

 vastly richer than before the sheep commenced to trim up the weeds and 

 coarse grass. 



It is generally calculated that the increase each year to be one and a half, 

 but I have not reached that high, perhaps one and a quarter would be 

 nearer. Many are prevented from handling sheep because they are not fixed 

 for it. It is highly needful that they should be fixed before going into it. A 

 very cheap fence can be made by getting any good wire netting about 

 twenty or twenty-four inches high and two barb wires above. The idea that 

 seven or nine barb wires are just as good is a mistake, as with the barb wire 

 being low enough to catch the wool of an animal as they run along will 

 always lose a large per cent of the wool, and will always make the fleece 

 very rough and untidy looking when on the market. 



As a help to our soil in increasing fertility, and as a sort of digesting 

 machine for clearing up unsightly corners of our fences, give me a nice flock 

 of sheep. 



Sheep to be profitable must have good care, good sheds in wet weather 

 and very clean places to eat off of, as they always want to be invited to eat at 

 the first table. I keep a self-feeding salt box in their shed where they can 

 always find salt. 



