FEEDING AND CARE OF SHEEP 323 



most weed seeds this further fits them as weed destroyers. As sheep 

 graze, their droppings are distributed more uniformly than with 

 other stock. At nightfall they instinctively seek the higher, usually 

 poorer, land and thus leave their droppings where most needed. 

 Thru increasing the fertility of the pastures it grazes, this animal has 

 won the title of "The Golden Hoof." 



Only a relatively small investment is necessary to start in sheep 

 husbandry, since the foundation animals cost but little and the flock 

 increases rapidly. Sheep require neither expensive barns nor im- 

 plements and only a minimum of care and attention during the busy 

 summer season. In wool and in the flesh of her off-spring, the ewe 

 gives double returns each year. With fair prices, the wool pays for 

 her maintenance, leaving as profit all income from the lamb or lambs, 

 after deducting the small cost of the additional feed and care they 

 require. Returns come quickly, for lambs may be marketed 8 or 9 

 months after the ewes are bred. While surpassed by the pig in econ- 

 omy of meat production, the lamb requires less feed per pound of 

 product than the steer. Because sheep readily consume food which 

 would otherwise be wasted, a flock will prove profitable on many 

 farms where most of the income is derived from other sources. On 

 rough or hilly land that cannot be economically tilled sheep may often 

 be the main live stock of the farm. Tho the cost of maintaining them 

 may be lowered thru their utilization of feed that would otherwise 

 be wasted, one must not expect profitable production from such feed 

 alone. 



Types of sheep. — The original fine-wool or ^Merino sheep were de- 

 veloped primarily for the production of wool and have bodies which, 

 like that of the dairy cow, are inclined to be angular in form. At the 

 other extreme we have the mutton sheep, comprising the middle- and 

 long-wooled breeds, which were developed in Great Britain primarily 

 for the production of meat, with wool secondary. In shape of body 

 these breeds resemble the beef breeds of cattle, being blocky and 

 compact. During recent years the Delaine-Merinos and the Ram- 

 bouillets have been developed from the original Spanish Merinos with 

 the object of securing a fine-wool sheep that would furnish more mut- 

 ton. These are of dual-purpose type, between the two extremes in 

 form of body. 



Size of flock.— In the grazing districts of the West thousands of 

 sheep carrying more or less INIerino blood are held in single bands 

 where the range furnishes suflicient feed, and tens of thousands may 

 be successfully fed together, as is still done with range sheep which 

 are brought to feeding points in the western states and in the 

 Mississippi valley. 



