418 



NEW ENGLAOT) FAEMER. 



Sept. 



FATTENING SHEEP IN "WINTER.. 



UEiNG the annu- 

 al winter meet- 

 ing of the New 

 York State Ag- 

 ricultural Soci- 

 ety at Albany, 

 last February, 

 a paper was 

 read on "The 

 Fattening ot 

 Sheep in Win- 

 ter" by Jurian 

 Winne.Esq., of Beth- 

 lem Centre, Albany 

 ;.ounty. New York, 

 tvhichhas been pub 

 li^hed in pamphlet form. 

 Mr. Winne has been en- 

 gaged in fattening sheep for 

 about twelve years, and for sev- 

 eral years past Mr. Henry Good- 

 nough of Brighton has purchased a portion 

 of his feeding for this market, where the 

 mutton bears a high reputation. Last spring 

 while Mr. Winne was at this market with 

 some of his sheep, he called upon us, and we 

 had a few moments conversation with him. 

 Having frequently heard the superior quality 

 of his mutton spoken of, and having under- 

 stood that his farm was near the city of Al- 

 bany, we had supposed that probably he was 

 some "side-walk farmer," who, having made a 

 fortune in commerce or other business, had re- 

 tired and was fattening sheep as an amuse- 

 ment or relaxation, and with more regard to 

 a good reputation for the style of his goods 

 than to the cost of their production. He in- 

 formed us, however, that he was "nothing but 

 a farmer," and had never engaged in any other 

 bubiness. The land he tills has been in the 

 possession of his ancestors since the first set- 

 tlement of the country, and had become so 

 badly run out that, in his own words, "it would 

 hardly grow a crop cf good beans." He 

 therefore went into the sheep- feeding business 

 more with a view to the conseijuent improve- 

 ment of the land than to make the ready dol- 

 lar. He says in his pamphlet, as he stated to 

 us, that, — 



In this I have fully succeeded. I wanted to 

 make two spears ot grass grow where but one 

 grow btfore, and I am suro I am getting three, 

 some of my neighbors say four ; hawever, I culi it 



three. The meadows that used to cut from one- 

 half to one ton of hay per acre, now ^ield on an 

 average over two. Raising rye was then out of the 

 question ; last year I got from about sixteen aeres, 

 tour hundred bushels of rye, and straw enough to 

 have amounted to near nine hundred dollars, if I 

 had sold it (which I never do, unless I replace it 

 by hay for bedding, as I have done this year, gi-t- 

 ting three tons of hay for one ton of straw ) This 

 year I got frum forty-five bushels sowing, tifty 

 loads. 



But though thus succesf f ul himself, and wil- 

 ling to communicate to others the whole art 

 and mystery of the business, so far as one man 

 can convey to another his acquired skill and 

 the teachings of his own experience, he adds 

 the following caution to those who may be dis- 

 posed to attempt to follow in his footsteps : — 



I must say, that with all the experience and pre- 

 caution in buying, good fixtures, plenty of feed, 

 litter, care, &c., you will not always succeed. For 

 though I have for the last twelve years studied the 

 thing closely, and carried it out carefully, in spite 

 of all my efforts I have not always made money, 

 and would almost guarantee that out of every ten 

 new sheep feeders, eight will probably feed but one 

 year. When a friend asks my advice on the sub- 

 ject, I always say to him, try twenty-five or fifty, 

 and then if you like it, get more the next year. 

 Some have looked upon this advice as selfish, and 

 given to keep others out, and have rushed into the 

 business, and not only the first year made no 

 money, but actually lost ne arly half their invest- 

 ment. We used to have several sheep feeders in 

 this and adjoining counties, and as the principal 

 feeders have all left the business except myself, I 

 think this is pretty conclusive evidence that what 

 I now say is about right. 



A person to suc< eed in sheep feeding, must do it 

 because he likes to do it — because he prefers to 

 feed sheep and see th* m eat, to any other business 

 done in winter; and althouj,h he may not he able 

 or willing to do the work himself, still he must 

 take delight in seeirg it well attended to, if he ex- 

 pecis to prosper. He should l>e sure to see every 

 shtep he has, at least once a day, when, if he un- 

 derstands his business, he can tell at a glance 

 whether they have been propeily cared for. 



If our space permitted we should copy the 



whole paper, but must content ourselves with 



a few extracts. 



Stock for Feeding. 



My first rule is, always to buy good st^^ck, what- 

 ever the breed may be, and to r>-3 sure to select an- 

 imals kindly disposed to fatten. The price of well 

 bied sheep may appear to be high, but depend 

 upon it, if there is no money in feeding good stock, 

 ttiere i^ no money in poor. A one-dollar sheep 

 will consume about as much f>ed as a six dollar 

 one, and as neither of them can be fed thnaigh 

 the feeding season tor much short of five dollars a 

 head, you will readily perceive that the one dollar 

 sheep won Id stand you in six dollars, the other 

 eleven d )llars. 



According to my experience, the one-dollar 

 sheep would weigli in the spring about eighty 

 pounds, and sell for seven cents per pound, v\hich 

 would make five dollars and sixty eents — a loss of 

 forty cents; when the six-dollar one would weiiih 

 at least one hundred ar.d twtnty-five pounds, 

 and sell for ten cents per poum), making twelve 

 dollars and fifty eents — a profit of one dollar 

 and fifty cents, liesides getting the credit iu 

 the one case of bnngiug good siock to market, and 



