No. 4.] SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 135 



Mr. Avery. No, sir ; I have not taken any precautions 

 against dogs, and never have had any serious trouble. In 

 some sections of our county some very valuable flocks have 

 been entirely ruined by dogs. I have fortunately escaped 

 anything of that sort. 



There is one point to which the essayist alluded which I 

 wish to emphasize, and that is, that the keeping of sheep 

 requires constant care and attention. I think there is where 

 many of us fail. We think that we can slight the sheep ; 

 that they can get along almost any way, and shirk for them- 

 selves. That is not so. They require a certain amount of 

 care. They do not require anywhere near as much care as 

 a herd of cows, the labor is not nearly so much ; but they 

 should have just as good care as you give your cows. If 

 you neglect your dairy cows for a day or two, the milk pail 

 will tell the story ; but it is not so with sheep ; none but a 

 practised eye will notice the difference. But, if you are 

 raising early lambs especially, those lambs will very soon 

 show any neglect, and if they are neglected for a short time 

 they never will recover from it. There is no way to get 

 along with them and raise them successfully but to give them 

 good care and attention and good feed, and fit them for mar- 

 ket as soon as possible. The sooner and the younger they 

 can be prepared for market, the greater will be the profit. 

 It costs less to fit lambs for market if you do it in eight or 

 ten weeks than it does to be twelve or fourteen about it. 



A. J. Bucklin (of Adams). What is your method of 

 housing in the winter ? How large an extent of shed room 

 do you require ? 



Mr. Avery. My sheep sheds are old-fashioned, as you 

 might say. The sheds were built before I went on the farm, 

 probably thirty or forty years ago, and they are not remark- 

 ably warm ; but still, by fixing them up a little I make them 

 warm enough, — as warm as I care to have them. I hardly 

 ever lose a lamb in cold weather on account of getting chilled. 

 As to the amount of space which they require, I have in one 

 pen now, which is 26 feet square, 50 ewes, and I think that 

 is perhaps as close as they should be ; perhaps more room 

 would be better for them, but still they will do very well 

 with that amount of room. After they drop their lambs and 



