1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



261 



For the New England Faimer. 

 SHEEP RAISING. 



The question is often asked, is sheep hus- 

 bandry profitable, and the answer is not always 

 very favorable. Location has niut-h to do 

 with the decision of this question, but care and 

 feed has much more. Sheep need a favorable 

 locality as regards pasturage, suitable care 

 and the necessary amount and kind of fodder. 

 Mutton, lambs, and wool are the three impor- 

 tant objects in sheep raising. Therefore in 

 this climate, the winter care of sheep often 



{)ractically settles the question of profit or 

 OSS. 



In agriculture, as in other things, theory is 

 of no account, unless it will stand the test of 

 experience. Practical facts are what farmers 

 want. They are matter of fact people, and 

 though liable to be humbugged, they are sat- 

 isfied with nothing short of experimental 

 truth. 



It is not my present intention to write an 

 jBssay on sheep husbandry, but to answer the 

 question so often propounded in the colunms 

 of your paper. How shall I feed my sheep 

 so as to keep them in good order, ensure 

 strong, healthy lambs, and a large clip of wool? 



I have no theory to offer, but will state a 

 few facts drawn from personal experience and 

 from observation of the practices of our best 

 farmers. The first great point is to have good 

 healthy sheep, not over seven years old, nor 

 less than one, in fair condition when they come 

 to the barn ; and be sure and have them come 

 to the barn before they get poor On the scanty 

 frost-killed grass to l^e found at that season of 

 the year. Tlien do not force them to support 

 life on poor, dry, late-cut hay. To be sure, 

 sheep will live on such fodder, but it robs the 

 carcass of all its juices ; the Hesh decays'^ and 

 the wool becomes thin, dry and lifeless. I 

 pity the poor sheep that have one of those 

 owners who think sheep will live on anything. 

 Give them good early-cut hay, and enough of 

 it, but none to waste. If you allow sheep to 

 waste fodder in the first days of winter, they 

 will by and by utterly refuse to eat their hay 

 up clean, and will be likely to lose their ap- 

 petite, and grow poor on the best of feed. 

 If early-cut hay is not to be had in good sup- 

 ply, roots must take its place ; in fact, they are 

 indispensable to the health of the sheep. 



An abundance of good pure water is as 

 necessary for sheep as for other farm stock. 

 Give them a good dry airy pen, away from 

 catte, horses and hogs, so that they can live 

 a life of ease and comfort, and they will re- 

 ward you for all the care you give them, and 

 the cost of keeping. 



It is not usual for our farmers here to keep 

 large flocks of sheep. We have but few 

 flocks above fifty in number, — from twenty to 

 thirty is about the average of those who believe 

 in keeping a general assortment of farm stock, 

 and make a specialty of none. 



Now for a few facts and figures. Osgood 

 Brown of West Bethel, a well-to-do farmer, 

 keeps about thirty sheep, yearly, and has kept 

 sheep for fifty years. When sheep were but 

 one dollar per head, and wool but twenty-five 

 cents per pound he kept sheep, and when 

 sheep were worth from five to eight dollars 

 each, and wool one dollar a pound, he still 

 kept about his usual number, — never excited 

 and never discouraged. He has now among 

 his Hock descendants of the first sheep he ever 

 owned, about fifty years ago. He never 

 changes his flock. His rule is, keep the best; 

 never allow the drover nor butcher to pick the 

 flock ; but when they are high, keep the best ; 

 and when they are low, keep the best, — never 

 be cajoled into selling the finest lambs, because 

 they will bring a little more money. 



His rule as to feeding his sheep is as un- 

 changable as the law of the Mcdes and Per- 

 sians. He gives them a good hilly pasture, 

 and when the snows come he drives his flock 

 to the barn, and suffers them no more to roam 

 till grass grows again next season. Their 

 food is usually good hay and enough of it ; yet 

 they have to eat their share- of the coarse fod- 

 der during the coldest weather. They are 

 fed morning and night, on the snow, in a 

 large yard, sheltered from the cold winds, and 

 supplied with running water. During the day, 

 they are kept in a good comfortable |)en, dry 

 but airy. His lambs are dropped from the 

 middle of April to the tenth or fifteenth of 

 May. He saves a good mow of early-cut, 

 nicely cured clover hay for spring, which he 

 conunences to feed out about the fifteenth of 

 March, or one month before dropping the 

 lambs. The first day of April he commences 

 to feed to his thirly sheep one-half bushel of 

 potatoes and one-fourth bushel of oats, and 

 when the lambs begin to drop, he gives one 

 bushel potatoes and one-half bushel of oats 

 daily, — fed regularly after eating their hay, — 

 say nine o'clock in the morning. His sheep 

 are always in good order ; have an abundance 

 of milk, and lose but very little wool. In 

 1869, of twenty-seven lambs dropped, he 

 raised twenty-six, and on the 10th of August 

 sold them for $3 a head. His sheep yielded 

 4^ pounds of wool each, which brought forty- 

 five cents per pound. In 1870, from twenty- 

 seven sheep he raised twenty-six lambs, which 

 brought the first of August .f 3 each, and his 

 sheep sheared four pounds two ounces each of 

 wool, which in June was worth forty -four cents 

 per lb. These are dry facts, and all can 

 draw their own conclusions. 



Elijah Wheeler, of Albany, another suc- 

 cessful farmer, keeps about the same number 

 of sheep, and feeds in the same way, and is 

 about equally successful. 



George W. Grover, of Bethel, in 1869, 

 kept about the same number of sheep, fed 

 meadow bay during the winter, and a quart 

 of Rutabaga turnips every other day, His 

 lambs were dropped in March. He then fed oats 



