CHAPTER IV. 

 SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT. 



RESTOCKING A FARM WITH SHEEP. 



Supposing that we have decided to embark in the 

 sheep industry, and have decided on a breed, the 

 next consideration is how to set about filling the 

 void of sheep upon our farm. Farms differ in size, 

 conformation and soil; conditions vary greatly, so 

 that no rule can be laid down that will be applicable 

 to all places, yet there are a few facts that are of 

 general application. In England and France there 

 are farms almost entirely devoted to sheep ; they 

 carry little other stock, and grow crops mainly to 

 be fed to the flock, with only grain in rotation. 



These farms are very profitable when well man- 

 aged, and greatly build the soil and the fortunes of 

 the owners. We cannot yet advocate the attempt to 

 establish in our land such sheep farms as these; at 

 least the growth of such a farm should be very 

 gradual, and any attempt to at once establish such 

 a one would result disastrously in nine cases out of 

 ten. We have no class of expert shepherds such as 

 would be needed to care for a flock on such a farm, 

 nor would the importation of British shepherds help 

 us, for we have problems that they know not of, and 



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