No. 9. Rearing Lambs for Market — Summer Management of Sheep. 286 



Rearing Lambs for Market. 



At our request, Mr. George Edwards, of 

 Mecbanicsville, Saratoga county, has fur- 

 nished us the following account of his mode 

 of managing sheep and rearing lambs for 

 market: 



"As my farm is near our large markets, 

 and well adapted to what I call mixed hus- 

 bandry — that is sheep, grain and grass — the 

 soil a loam, high and dry — I find the rearing 

 of fat lambs the most profitable branch of 

 farming. The ewes have generally been 

 bought in September — always selecting those 

 of rather coarse w-ooi, they be ng larger and 

 generally the best nurses. The rams (pure 

 South Downs) are put to them early in No- 

 vember, and the lambs are dropped about the 

 first of .April. The ewes are fed during the 

 winter with cornstalks and straw, and about 

 one month before lambing, and from thence 

 till they go to pasture, thoy are each fed 

 with three quarts of brewer's grains per day. 



"Last year 100 ewes raised 100 lambs. 

 The wool, which was sold at Troy at 3"2 

 cents per lb., brought •'fil04 75. Twenty-five 

 lambs sold at '^2 each, one ram lamb siii.5, one 

 do. Jfe.S, and the remaining seventy-three at 

 ^\ 75 each. They were all taken away by 

 the last of July. The ewes were sold to the 

 butcher at 82 each in October — so that the 

 hundred ewes realized $490 50. 



" It is desirable to get rid of the lambs 

 early, that the ewes may have time to fat- 

 ten, so that they may be sold to the butcher 

 in the fall — giving room for a new flock 

 which should be brought in for the next 

 season. 



"It is a good mode, and one which we 

 have frequently adopted, if we have a piece 

 of rye which had been sown on a clover sod, 

 (or where the land was otherwise in good 

 order.) to plough the stubble the very mo- 

 ment the rye is off the field, and sow turnips. 

 The furrows are first harrowed with a light 

 harrow lengthwise and then crosswise — the 

 seed sown broadcast, 2 lbs. per acre — ending 

 with rolling the ground with a very light 

 roller. The turnip called the stubble turnip 

 is preferred. A larger quantity of seed is 

 sown than some use, in order to get a good 

 stand in spite of the ravage? of the fly. I 

 have now procured one of Emery's seed- 

 planters and shall probably sow the turnips 

 in drills henceforth — the rows two feet apart, 

 to give space to work between them with a 

 horse and small plough or cultivator. As 

 soon as the turnips are up about two inches, 

 we put on the light harrows, passing both 

 ways, keeping a straight course. If the tur- 

 nips are in drills, the drags are only run 

 across the rows. About two days alter the 



harrows are run over the turnips, they are 

 gone over with hoes and thinned where they 

 are in bunches. 



"Ten acres of turnips, with a tolerable 

 even plant, will supply and fatten 1.50 sheep, 

 and will afford fine keep for them from the 

 first of October to the end of November, (if 

 there is not much snow,) at a time when 

 pasture is generally short. About one acre 

 should be fenced off to commence with, and 

 after four or five days add about one-fourth 

 of an acre every other day. At first the 

 sheep will not appear to like the turnips, but 

 after three or four days they will eat them 

 rapidly. A boy should he placed with the 

 sheep for two or three hours each day, to 

 chop up the shells — the sheep will fall back 

 and eat them up clean. 



" While the sheep are on the turnips, it is 

 an advantage to give them a little cut hay in 

 troughs — say about three bushels per day for 

 150 sheep. 



" Let any man try this plan, and if his land 

 is in good heart, he will not only find his 

 sheep get really fat, but they will leave the 

 land in fine condition for a spring crop. It 

 must be observed, the more attention that is 

 paid to keeping down the weeds, the better 

 will the crop pay cost." — Cultivator. 



Summer Management of Sheep. 



Let us imagine the time to have arrived 

 when the duties of the flock-master relative 

 to foddering his flocks are about to be sus- 

 pended by turning them to pasture. This 

 period, in the northern States, is from the 

 Ist to the 20th of April. It is a critical time 

 with sheep, owing to the rigor and vicissi- 

 tudes of the climate, and their long confine- 

 ment to dry food, especially so with the finer- 

 wooled varieties, and therefore claiming more 

 than ordinary care. But many of the duties 

 involved require to be e.xercised a month or 

 more antecedent to the time under conside- 

 ration. 



If sheep have been confined wholly within 

 yards, and not permitted to taste the young 

 grass until it is sufficiently advanced to sa- 

 tisfy their hunger without the aid of other 

 food, there is great danger in turning them 

 upon it too suddenly. This results from ita 

 flashy and stimulating properties, causing 

 scours or purging, and unfortunately with 

 that portion of the flock least able to endure 

 the attack, namely, those in low flesh, and 

 consequently feeble. In nearly all such cases 

 death will often follow, unless a timely ar- 

 rest of the disease is made by a return in 

 part to dry food. 



But it is better to attend to the prevention, 

 which is, to allow the flock to graze an hour 



