FARMER'S 

 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



SHEEP 



The earliest glimpses of history show 

 man herding and tending flocks of sheep. 

 It appears that sheep were first raised 

 chiefly for their milk, later for their 

 skins, which were used for clothing, then 

 wool became a primary consideration, 

 and finally Great Britain, chiefly through 

 the work of Robert Bakewell, produced 

 the mutton type of sheep. Up to about 

 20 years ago, sheep were grown in the 

 United States chiefly for wool. The low 

 price of wool for a period of years has 

 led to the more rapid development of 

 mutton flocks, especially in the East. 

 At the present time the mutton flocks 

 are rapidly increasing, largely through 

 the crossing of rams of the mutton type 

 on ewes of the Merino or wool breeds. ' 



Feeding qualities of sheep — Sheep 

 stand next to hogs in their ability to 

 produce meat from a given quantity of 

 food. They are superior to hogs in 

 their ability to utilize coarse fodders 

 and bulky food, even excelling cattle in 

 this respect. It requires 9 to 11 pounds 

 of dry matter to produce a pound of gain 

 with steers, while sheep on the same feed 

 will make a pound of gain on 7 to 9 

 pounds of dry matter. The Iowa sta- 

 tion found that 1,000 pounds of cattle 

 on full feed ate 19.6 pounds of dry mat- 

 ter a day, and gained 2.14 pounds ; while 

 1,000 pounds of sheep ate 29.7 pounds 

 of dry matter a day and gained 3.73 

 pounds in weight. In other words, the 

 sheep ate 48 per cent more feed per 1,000 

 pounds weight and made 75 per cent bet- 

 ter gains. Not only this, but while 

 sheep are making these gains they will 

 grow a fleece in addition, worth from 

 75 cents to $1.50 a head. 



General usefulness on farm — The fact 

 is that properly managed, a medium 

 sized flock of sheep will bring in more 

 profits to its owner under a system of 

 mixed farming than any other animal on 

 the farm, certainly more than cattle. 



They normally eat a great variety of 

 herbs and are of great value in keeping 

 the farm clean from weeds. For de- 

 stroying brush, they are nearly equal 

 to goats. They will thrive better on 

 poor pasture than either hogs or cattle, 

 and when given richer feed will gain 

 correspondingly. 



Systems of sheep farming — There are 

 several systems of sheep farming. Sheep 

 may be raised for wool alone, in which 

 case, the gross annual returns under west- 

 ern range conditions are about $2 a head. 

 Of this, the fleece brings about $1.50 and 

 the mutton, when finally sold, 50 cents. 



Profits in ranching — The expenses 

 under the better systems of ranching for 

 wool alone are as follows: Interest on 

 capital invested, 84 cents a head; taxes, 

 7.5 cents a head; shearing, 10 cents; la- 

 bor and winter feed, 41.5 cents; total, 

 $1.43, leaving 57 cents profit a head. 

 These are actual figures, taken from the 

 Bower Ranch in Montana, where about 

 40,000 sheep are kept for wool alone. 

 In this case the profits are reduced 15 

 cents more a head, because of the neces- 

 sity of renting additional summer range. 



Returns in general sheep farming — 

 When general purpose sheep are raised 

 for both mutton and wool, the gross re- 

 turns are, a fleece at about $1, and lamb, 

 which, after eight or nine months feed- 

 ing, will bring $4.50 to $6.50. Where a 

 flock of ewes is kept and winter lambs 

 raised, the gross receipts are a fleece 

 worth about $1, and a lamb or two, 

 which after two or three months feeding 

 will bring $6 to $12 a carcass. If pure 

 bred sheep are raised, the profit a sheep, 

 besides the wool, may amount to $15 to 

 $20 a head, and frequently much more 

 than this. (See also Systems of Sheep 

 Farming in Chapter IV.) 



Statistics— The largest number of 

 sheep ever reported in the United States 

 was in 1903, when there were 63,964.* 



