214 Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



little labor. The labor cost per dollar's worth of wool or lambs is 

 lower than in any other farm-animal product. It should be emphat- 

 ically stated, however, that sheep will not do well unless they are 

 given constant attention and the care necessary to maintain thrift, yet 

 the amount of work required is by no means heavy except at lambing 

 and shearing time. One competent man can care for from 300 to 500 

 ewes during winter. 



Sheep raising, properly managed, is profitable on the corn-belt 

 farm, while the New England states, and large areas of cut-over timber 

 lands in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are suitable for sheep as 

 soon as provision is made for the production of winter feed. Many 

 millions of acres in this country not now in farms and which are largely 

 unfit for the plow and not suitable for grazing by other animals, will 

 eventually return a revenue in lambs and wool. The sheep's ability to 

 prosper on grass and roughage, with little grain, gives it first call under 

 these conditions. 



The advantages of sheep, as compared to other live stock on the 

 farm, have been most ably presented by the late John A. Craig. ^ He 

 calls attention to the following: 



1. Compared with cattle, sheep produce more liberally in propor- 

 tion to what they consume. They consume more feed in proportion 

 to their weight, and a larger proportion of what is eaten goes into in- 

 crease. However, sheep are not so well fitted as cattle to utilize large 

 quantities of coarse roughage. 



2. The form in which sheep manure is dropped and the way it 

 is tramped into the soil insure a smaller waste than is possible under 

 any other system of stock farming. The sheep's habit of lying upon 

 the highest spot of the field or pasture leaves the larger part of the 

 droppings at the place where they are most needed. 



3. Sheep farming utilizes what would be otherwise waste4and.^ 



4. They convert into mutton and wool much material that can- 

 not be utilized by other animals. This is particularly true of grain lost 

 in stubble. Volunteer growth or aftermath too scanty for other stock 

 is just suited to the grazing habits of sheep. 



5. Sheep are the best weed destroyers. Of the numerous plants 

 regarded as weeds, cattle and horses eat about 50 per cent, while sheep 

 eat over 90 per cent of them. 



6. The income from wool and that from the lambs and mutton 

 come in different parts of the year, and it seldom happens that both 

 products sell at bottom prices the same year. 



7. The wool clip is easily stored with practically no waste or 

 deterioration if it is desirable to hold for a higher price. 



^ Sheep Farming in North America, pp. 3-8. 



