18 



THE GENESEE FARltER. 



FATTENING SHEEP IN WINTER. 



Is fnttenin}: slieep in winter, the first tiling to 

 be provided is a dnj yard witli an open slied. 

 Notliing is .«o injurious to sheep as wet quarters. 

 Wlien left to themselves, they always select the 

 highest and dryest places in the lield to lie upon. 

 Hacks and feeding troughs must also be furnished; 

 and what is of equal importance, they must he 

 tilled with proper food. No fodder fats sheep like 

 clover hay. If they could have some roots, so 

 much the better; but sheep m^i be fattened, and 

 rapidly and |n-ofitahly too, without roots. A sheep 

 weighing 100 lbs. will eat about three pounds of 

 clover hay, or its equivilent, per day. It is well 

 to let them have access to straw or corn stalks at 

 all times, giving them hay night and morning. 



One object in fattening sheep in winter, is to 

 increase tlie quantity and quality of the manure. 

 English farmers, who feed large (piantities of oil- 

 cake to sheep, consider it a profitable busijiess 

 •when the incrciised value of tlie slieep pays for the 

 oilcake consumed. They consider tlie value of the 

 manure equivalent to the turnips and other food, 

 except the purchased oilcake, which the sheep eat. 

 Taking the value of tlie manure into consideration, 

 no food is so good for sheep — none will yield a 

 greater profit — than oilcake. Half a pound each 

 sheep per day is a good average allowance, giving 

 less at first and gradually increasing the quantity. 

 If large mutton sheep, they may be allowed a 

 larger quantity. Oats, peas, and beans, are also 

 excellent for sheep, and so is Indian meal ; but the 

 manure made from the latter is not so valuable as 

 from oilcake, peas, or beans. Clover, containing 

 much more nitrogen than timotJiy or other grasses, 

 the manure from clover hay is much the most val- 

 oable. 



Sheep are timid creatures, and should never be 

 disturbed by the presence of dogs, or in any other 

 way. By eating snow, they manage to live with- 

 out water, but they will not thrive or fatten well 

 without a regular supply. A little salt should be 

 given occasionally, but not in too large quantities. 

 When they have oilcake and clover hay, little salt 

 is required, as a considerable quantity is provided 

 in these foods. 



The coarse-wooled sheep, when well bred, will 

 •undoubtedly furnish more mutton for the food con- 

 sumed than the fine-wooled sheep — and, other 

 things being e(iual, would be the most profitable 

 nheep for fattening in winter. But as the common 

 sheep of the country can be jiurchased much 

 cheaper in the fall than well bred mutton slieep, 

 greater profit is often realized from them than from 

 the English breeds. Mutton is much higher in the 

 spring than in the fall, and the profits of fattening 

 sheep in Winter depend as much on this increased 

 Tslue of mutton as in the increased weight of the 

 sheep. It is doubtful whether we could afford to 

 fatten sheep in winter, if we had to pay six cents 

 a pound for the sheep in the fall and sell them for 

 «ix cents a pound in the spring, depending on the 

 increase of mutton and wool to pay for the food 

 and trouble; but if we can buy at three cents and 

 sell for eight or nine, the profits are very consider- 

 able. I gives these figures, not as actujil represen- 

 tatives of what can be done, but merely to illus- 

 trate my meaning. I got this idea from the Gen- 



esee Fiinner three years ago, and have since then 

 purchased common sheep in the fall, at from $1.25 

 to $1.50 per head, and sold them in Uie spring at 

 from $4 to $('), and have found the business a pleas- 

 ant and profitable one. G. 8. T. 

 Erie Co,, N. Y., Dec, 1S68. 



MANAGEMENT OF FINE WOOL SHEEP. 



Fine wool is an important staple of the United 

 States, and it is well to examine the practice of the 

 best growers, to see the mode of raisirg wool and 

 breeding the sheep, so as to get the greatest weight 

 of fleece from the food consumed, and the average 

 cost of production. Nearly all our agricultural 

 knowledge is derived, not from theory, but from 

 the experience or experiments of judicious farmers 

 and breeders ; and for this reason, I say we must 

 examine the practice of wool growers, in order to 

 get at tlie best management of fine-wool sheep. 



First, as to the breed. And here is some diflB- 

 culty in deciding. Whether we shall get pure 

 Spanish, or French, Silesian, or Saxony Merino 

 sheep, is a hru'd question. So much depends on 

 the breeders tact and facilities for selling olf his 

 sur[>lns stock, that a breed good for one place 

 would not be for another. In some sections, 

 French Merinos could be profitably bred for sale 

 and for ^vvool ; and in another, nothing but Span- 

 ish could be disposed of. The French Merinos 

 have the heaviest fleeces ; the Spanish have shorter 

 legs and more barrel-shaped bodies ; and the Sax- 

 ony and Silesian, the finest wool. Either breed 

 can be made profitable for the grower ; and per- 

 haps a small admixture of the French blood with 

 the Spanish, would be as profitable as any breed, 

 wool alone being taken into consideration. 



It is requisite that the animal be covered all ovt-r 

 with wool, and that the fleece be long and close, 

 in order to get weight of fleece. It is also requi- 

 site that the animal be round, or barrel-shaped, 

 and the legs short, as the qualities ensure ease of 

 keeping — the shorter legged animal, ceteris paribus^ 

 eating the less. If the sheep do not po.ssess these 

 qualifications, then the breeder must give his entire 

 attention to this subject — must procure the best 

 rams for getting stock possessed of these qualities, 

 and i)ersevere, as did Bakewell, until he can not 

 find better sheep than his own to breed from. 



The subject of the care of sheep is the next to be 

 considered ; and this will do as well for mutton, or 

 coarse-wooled sheep, as for fine-wooled sheep. — 

 They should be kept in small flocks, in small pas- 

 tures, and changed often from one pasture to an- 

 other — should have accesss to pure water at all 

 times, summer and winter — should be salted twice 

 a week during the summer ; but if the hay is salted 

 in the mow, they do not require salting as fre- 

 quently in the winter. Put the rams with the ewes 

 in November, if the lambs are wanted in April — 

 the earlier the bettor, as the lambs attain a larger 

 size before the next winter. Feed the sheep on 

 good hay, in racls, vnder cover ; for by feeding 

 under cover, in good tight sheds, one-third of the 

 hay is saved — an important item in the cost of 

 raiding wool. Giving tlie nreeding ewes clover hay, 

 it makes them give as much milk as grass wilL 

 Give all the sheep, during the winter, about half 

 a gill of corn (or its value in other grain) per day, 



