26 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA 



winter feeding. In the beginning of the investiga- 

 tion I assumed that I would visit usually men with 

 100 or more breeding ewes. Later, when in the field, 

 I found there few indeed who had so many ewes 

 as that; maybe a whole county would show no more 

 than one or two flocks of that size. I learned that 

 experience had shown that on the general farm 

 where sheep were kept as a part of the general farm 

 scheme flocks of 40 to 50 ewes were most profitable, 

 the easiest kept free from parasites and returning 

 the most lambs and the heaviest fleeces. True, there 

 were here and there men with successful flocks of 

 100 and more, but they were the exception. They 

 were men of unusual carefulness. I feel therefore 

 in the light of this study that unless one is prepared 

 to give a pasture treatment similar to that outlined 

 on page 175, he will be wise if he limits his ewe 

 flock to about 50 ewes. With that system of pasture 

 management I should not hesitate to keep 400 ewes 

 (the common number given a shepherd in England), 

 or if I could use sown crops and hurdles, as in Eng- 

 land, I should not hesitate, or if I could lamb the 

 ewes very early in winter, preferably in fall, then 

 I should not care how many I had, so I had fairly 

 roomy range for them in summer. To the novice, 

 the beginner, the man who wishes only a little flock 

 of sheep as a handy thing to consume some forage, 

 keep the farm free from weeds and yield a tidy profit 

 at the end of the year, I suggest the flock of 40 ewes 

 as being best adapted to his purpose and, decently 

 cared for, certain to return him a good profit. 



