Small Flocks. 63 



Professor Wrightson says that sheep are the means 

 of nearly doubling crops of barley, oats, and wheat, and 

 that hay and root crops are made incomparably better 

 by them. A flock upon the farm can at any time stay 

 a profuse pasture growth which otherwise might go to 

 waste and cause trouble and loss in grazing. Sheep will 

 also feed in a paddock after it has been grazed by horses 

 and cattle, and will pleasingly even-up a pasture. Their 

 restless movements make of them efficient manure dis- 

 tributers. By m&nufing the flats with artificials, and 

 growing crops, and feeding them to sheep, and allowing 

 the sheep access to the rising ground, a farmer can have 

 his adjacent hill land manured cheaply. 



Prices for sheep products are so satisfactory that 

 with a permanent flock upon the farm it will pay to 

 grow special crops to keep them going and making con- 

 dition in times of weather severity or drought. Besides 

 having always on hand a reserve of hay, catch crops can 

 be grown and fed to sheep. The land's fertility, carry- 

 ing capacity and value will be enhanced, and whatever 

 extra feed is provided for the pinching time of the year 

 will, with careful grazing of pastures during the balance 

 of the year, enormously increase the carrying power of 



the farm. 







Sheep and appropriate working of the land and 

 cropping, with the start of a cheap minimum of arti- 

 ficial fertiliser, will transform second rate land into real 

 good cropping or grazing country. So responsive is the 

 pasture growth in New Zealand for the greater part of 

 the year that it is possible to double and treble the num- 

 ber of stock carried on many sheep farms by growing 

 proper crops. If successfully done the labour bill will 

 not interfere much with the substantially increased 

 capital value and earning power of the farm. The 

 climate's action on the pasture growth is more favour- 

 able in New Zealand than in any other country. 



