SHEEP AS IMPROVERS OF SOIL FERTILITY 3 



goes far toward giving the sheep a foremost place among 

 live stock on the farm in the profits which they give to the 

 owner. It has been claimed that under many conditions, 

 the fleece furnished annually by the sheep will pay the 

 cost of food and care for the entire year. In some in- 

 stances it will do more than this, thus leaving the value 

 of the lamb or lambs produced, less the food it has eaten, 

 as the net profit. But that is not all the profit, as will 

 now be shown. 



When reckoning the profit from keeping sheep, it is 

 legitimate, of course, to include the influence which they 

 exercise on fertility and in checking the growth of nox- 

 ious forms of weed life. These influences are, in a sense, 

 intangible. It is impossible to put a money value upon 

 them, since no rules have been formulated for estimating 

 exactly the value of these influences, nor is it possible to 

 formulate them because of their intangible character. 

 Both, however, are material, and, especially on the arable 

 farm, they add greatly to the profits from keeping sheep. 

 That sheep are more profitable, as a rule, than any other 

 quadruped kept on the arable farm in proportion to the 

 investment and the labor involved, is the almost universal 

 testimony of those who have kept the different classes of 

 these upon the farm. 



Fertility removed by sheep The amount of fertility 

 removed by sheep is relatively small. They only remove 

 virtually what is transformed into flesh, bone and wool. 

 In flesh and wool the nitrogenous element predominates, 

 and this when removed can be much more easily replaced 

 on the arable farm than phosphoric acid and potash. The 

 most serious loss is that of phosphorus, since that cannot 

 be so easily replaced as the supply of nitrogen, and the 

 supply of potash in the soil is usually relatively more 

 abundant than that of potash. Sheep remove less of fer- 

 tility from the farm than other domestic quadrupeds, for 

 the reason that the droppings fall more constantly on 



