372 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



should be from $4 to $5, provided they are healthy. The feed consumed 

 by five ewes weighing 200 pounds when kept in large flocks each will be 

 about the same amount as that by a steer weighing 1,200 pounds. In 

 small lots, however, a sheep will utilize a great deal of feed that a steer 

 will not. in other words, they can be used as scavengers, not only for 

 the benefit of the sheep but for the benefit of the land itself. 



Why, therefore, are not sheep more generally kept on the average 

 farm in the grain and grass states? One reason is that these farms are 

 not as a rule fenced with sheep tight fences and hence sheep cannot be 

 used, for example, for cleaning stubble fields, nor can lambs be pastured 

 in corn fields to the fullest extent. The time, however, is past when a 

 farmer can afford to do without fences around every field, sheep tight and 

 horse high. When farms are worth from $50 to $100 per acre justice to 

 them requires that they should be properly fenced and while a fence thar 

 will hold cattle and horses may be a legal fence, it is not the proper fence 

 for a farm of t^at value. It is to be hoped that this objection will disap- 

 pear in time. 



Another reason is that cattle will not do well after sheep. This is a 

 valid objection. They don't do well when a large number of sheep are 

 kept on the same pasture. However, in a properly managed farm that 

 number of sheep need not be kept much on the cattle pasture. They can 

 be used as gleaners during the summer time and in the winter it does Hot 

 matter. 



Another objection is that sheep and hogs don't go well together. That 

 also is a valid objection. The lamb is a foolish thing and is quite likely 

 to allow the old brood sow to pull it through the fence and make an em; 

 of its usefulness. This objection can very easily be obviated by having 

 separate enclosures for sheep and hogs. 



The main objection, which is not a valid one, is that few farmers 

 know how to handle sheep. This is one, however, that can very easily be 

 overcome and a clear profit of from $100 to $150 a year on a flock of fifty- 

 ewes should be sufficient inducement for any man who is farming for dear 

 life to learn how to handle them. 



The sheep, of course, should not be of the special mutton breeds. 

 There is a place tor these, and a large place, but it is not on a small 

 farm in connection with other stock. The medium breeds, such as Ram- 

 bouillets and Delaines, may be kept to advantage on these grain farms, 

 whether the tariff is high or low. This is especially true in regard to the 

 Down breeds. While the tariff has been of some benefit to breeders of 

 fine wool sheep, we believe it has done more harm to the breeders of mat- 

 ton sheep by increasing the amount of mutton grown on the range, tfcan 

 it has ever done good. 



