CHAPTER XIX 



SHEEP 



Classes of sheep. 

 Middle-wool breeds. 



Southdown, Shropshire, Hampshire, Oxford, Dorset, Cheviot. 

 Long-wool breeds. 



Leicester, Cotswold, Lincoln. 

 Fine-wool breeds. 



American Merino, Rambouillet. 

 Feeds for sheep. 

 Importance of shepherd dogs. 

 Sheep-killing dogs. 

 Catching, holding, and leading sheep. 



WHEN rightly managed sheep give good returns on the in- 

 vestment, they furnish a valuable food product, and wool 

 that can be manufactured into the warmest of cloth. With 

 all these good qualities, however, not many sheep, compared 

 with the other classes of live-stock, are found on American 

 farms. Sheep are abundant in the western country, but on 

 the farms of the Central States, the East, and the South many 

 more might be raised, although the profit-and-loss elements 

 of the industry must determine the extent to which it can be 

 carrTe4. The cur-dog nuisance is partly responsible for lack 

 of sheep, but another reason is that farmers as a whole know 

 little about sheep raising. Many of them think the manage- 

 ment of a flock a difficult task, but experience shows that this 

 is not true. Sheep are really not more difficult to manage 

 than other classes of live-stock. However, merely because 

 sheep thrive in a given region does not prove that they 

 should be raised there; other kinds of farming may be more 

 profitable. 



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