SHEEP 225 



are more intensively worked, however, more and better 

 fences will be used, and then there will be no difficulty in 

 keeping sheep. 



Sheep for Fattening. — A number of farmers, who have not 

 the necessary fencing so they can raise sheep to advantage, 

 have gotten some of the benefits of having sheep on their 

 farms by buying at about harvest time a carload of lambs, 

 or as many as they can keep to advantage, and allowing 

 them to graze over their stubble and cornfields during the 

 fall. Such sheep are in fine condition to fatten during the 

 winter on bundle corn or other cheap feed. Farmers may 

 thus produce several pounds of mutton on each acre of land, 

 after it has produced a crop; make their land cleaner and 

 richer; and feed on the farm, at a profit, products otherwise 

 of little or no value. 

 Questions: 



1. What winter care do breeding ewes require? 



2. Compare the shelter needed for sheep with the shelter needed 

 for dairy cows. 



3. What can you say about fencing for sheep? 



4. Why do sheep require less labor than other stock? 

 Arithmetic: 



1. A farmer buys 50 sheep at $4.50 each. How much do they 

 cost him? 



2. When shorn, the 50 sheep average 7}/^ lbs. of wool each. How 

 many pounds of wool will the farmer have? How much is it worth at 

 24c. per pound? How much is the wool worth per sheep? 



3. From the 50 sheep the farmer raises 45 lambs worth $4.00 each. 

 How much are the lambs worth? What is the average income for lambs 

 from each of the 50 sheep? 



FEEDING 

 Cheaply Raised. — Sheep can eat and thrive on a diet 

 constituted principally of roughage. In this respect they 

 are like cattle; but very different from hogs whose ration 

 must be largely grain, because they have comparatively 

 small stomachs. It is well to feed at least some of the 

 grain produced on a farm for the sake of preserving its 

 fertility; but there is alwaj^s more or less roughage, as 

 straw, cornstalks, hay, weeds and scattered grain. This 

 coarse stuff is not suitable for dairy cows, although beef 

 cattle can use such feed; but sheep are more hkely to return 

 a profit on such feed than beef cattle. 



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