434 DRY LAND FARMING 



preparing them for market, and they ought to be sold 

 when two years old. Some western farmers head their 

 wheat and feed it thus to cattle that are being fattened. 

 The wisdom of doing so is to be questioned. They 

 should then weigh about 1,200 to 1,300 pounds, while 

 those hand-fed would weigh about 1,000 pounds. 



Such animals should find a ready market wherever 

 high-class meat is wanted. Grown thus it will be high- 

 class meat, and should command the highest price. 

 When growing such meat, it should never be allowed to 

 become lean. 



Sheep on the dry farm. When sheep are reared on 

 the dry farm the number so reared should not be very 

 large. The production on the same when mixed in char- 

 acter would not justify the maintenance of numbers 

 so large relatively as in humid areas. In the latter, 

 sown pastures may be grown in succession through all 

 the season, but only to a limited extent in the former. 

 The numbers, however, should be enough to consume 

 all the forage that would otherwise go to waste, as, for 

 instance, grazing in the lanes and amid the stubbles 

 in the fields and on summer-fallow land. On every 

 farm the pasture from such a source is ample to sustain 

 a small flock of sheep, which may be thus grazed vir- 

 tually in most localities 'for three-fourths of the year 

 without cost. The benefit thus rendered will be marked 

 in the destruction of weeds, and in distributing more 

 or less fertilizer over the land. 



When rough pasture areas are contiguous to or form 

 a part of the dry arable farm, sheep can be grazed on 

 them about in the same way as cattle are grazed as de- 

 scribed above.. The breeding portion of the flock may be 

 wintered on food grown on the arable portion of the 

 farm. The part of the flock to be disposed of may be 

 finished on pastures grown for the purpose. These may 

 comprise Dwarf Essex rape grown in rows and culti- 



