1 66 MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



start with grades, use nothing but pure-bred rams. Sell your culls 

 to the butcher rather than to the novice. The sheep is a very bad 

 animal to doctor, therefore keep your flock healthy. Be careful not 

 to buy disease with your flock. Sell your customers a good animal ; 

 it means doing business ultimately with their friends. Don't be 

 everlastingly changing breeds ; be a sticker. Don't attempt to tear 

 other breeds than that which you are handling to pieces. Have 

 singleness and tenacity of purpose. Don't invent new make- 

 shifts; such bring disaster. Keep salt, worm powders and fresh 

 water before your flock at .all times. Be regular in feeding. 

 Change pastures often. Don't charge your mistakes to bad luck. 

 Don't allow your new purchases to die of homesickness. Don't 

 try to raise February lambs in summer barns. Visit your state 

 and country shows and don't fail to examine th,e contesting car- 

 casses at the fat stock shows. Train your eye to detect the thrifty 

 or unthrifty animal. Don't feed your sheep moldy rations until 

 you enjoy such yourself. Where possible, pasture your sheep by 

 themselves. Stick to your business until you have built up a repu- 

 tation and things will come easy to you, but remember, reputations 

 are not a ready-made product. You had better buy scrubs than 

 pure-breds unless you are prepared to give the pure-breds proper 

 care. Use only the best blood on the male side. Study indi- 

 viduality as well as pedigree. Infusion of blue blood is one of the 

 best tonics to be administered to the flock. Observe caution and 

 avoid all hazardous undertakings. Let the sheep you keep be 

 the best of their kind. Condition powders are all right in their 

 way, but good feed and care often dispense with their use. Don't 

 breed indiscriminately; have an ideal and breed to it. If you like 

 sheep for dollars and cents only, you had better keep out of the 

 business. Good books and the advice of good breeders are safe 

 guides, but experience will teach you something they cannot tell 

 you. Remember that the British breeds are children of care. 

 Don't expect to raise good stud sheep without succulent rations. 

 Change your flocks in the cool of the morning or evening during the 

 hot summer months. Don't allow a dog on your farm unless it be 

 a well-trained shepherd dog. Don't sell out because prices are very 

 high or very low. Keep on and in a series of years you will make 

 just as much out of sheep as out of any other business. A small, 

 well-managed flock is more profitable than a large one poorly man- 

 aged. Let uniformity be one of your ideals. Don't pamper. 

 Don't allow your sheep to shift for themselves. No matter what 

 class of ewe you keep, use only pure-bred rams. Don't feed 

 timothy hay if you can help it. Don't feed grain in excess. Use 

 oats in the breeding flock in preference to corn. Increase the grain 

 ration just before lambing. Feed lightly for several days after 

 lambing. Don't put your money into elaborate barns before you 



