32 



BULLETIN 716, U. S. DEPAETMENT OP AGEICULTTJRE. 



of stock, and that when proper credit was given for tliis, tlie returns 

 per animal unit from sheep were lower than those from any other 

 class of stock. 



This does not mean that sheep were unprofitable on all the farms. 

 In reality they were profitable on some farms. Profit or lack of 

 profit from sheep seemed due not so much to the sheep themselves as 

 to different practices of farmers in handling them. They have been 

 kept mainly for wool production, and on some farms were kept for 

 several years with no other returns than the wool they produced. 



A few farmers have been following the practice of keeping flocks 

 of ewes that produced lambs in April or Ma}^ The better ewe lambs 

 were retained, and the remainder sold, either in the fall when about 

 6 or T months old or after shearing when about 1 j^ear old. Over one- 

 fourth of the farmers that kept sheep have followed this practice to 



Fig. 11. — Most of the farms had flocks of flne-wooled sheep, which grazed on the hill- 

 sides during the pasture season. Flocks of ewes that raised lambs which were sold at 

 12 to 14 months of age returned much higher receipts per head than flocks kept only 

 for the wool they produced. 



some extent and all report favorably. Table VI shows the number 

 of sheep kept per farm, the per cent of the sheep receipts that were 

 from wool, and the receipts per sheep for the farms that have prac- 

 ticed selling lambs and for those that have not. The farmers who 

 sold lambs received $1.12 per head more from their sheep than those 

 who did not.^ 



Table VI. — Receipts per shQep for farms that practice selling Icmnbs and for 

 farms that do not (Palmer Toicnship, Washington County, Ohio). 



Farm group. 



Farms selling lambs 



Farms not selling lambs. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Number 

 of sheep 

 per farm. 



Per cent 



receipts 



from 



wool. 



Receipts 



per 

 sheep. 



$4.40 

 .3.28 



1 Sheep and wool both brought higher prices in 1917 than during the years covered by 

 this study, and with the higher prices tbe farmers selling lambs still obtained higher 

 receipts per head tban those not selling them. 



