2 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



ture. But when such decrease follows in the yields of the 

 grasses it is not owing to any decrease in fertility, as may 

 be shown by increase in the returns from pastures prop- 

 erly grazed in the same areas. When pastures are broken 

 up that are grazed by sheep, the growth is more vigorous 

 than on grass pastures beside them of similar age and 

 similarly broken but that have not been so grazed. Even 

 when sheep graze amid the stubbles after grain has been 

 harvested, the favorable influence on the crops that follow 

 is frequently distinctly traceable. How sheep increase 

 the fertility of the land when they remove fertility in the 

 form of flesh, bones and wool is explained below. 



Sheep are the inveterate foes of weed life in 

 nearly all of its forms. The weeds that sheep will not 

 consume upon the farm are few indeed, providing they 

 can have access to them while the weeds are young. 

 When tender and succulent, they will consume many 

 weeds in preference to grass. Almost the only class of 

 weeds that they will not eat when young are those that 

 are furnished with spines, as in the case of the thistle. 

 When weeds become woody, they will not consume the 

 stems unless under the constraint of hunger, but they will 

 in nearly all instances consume the seeds. The excep- 

 tions are seeds encased in pods that are furnished with a 

 defense in the form of prickles, as in the case of the 

 cocklebur and the burdock. It would be very interesting 

 to know the number of the weeds that a sheep consumes 

 in a day, in a year, or in a lifetime when given timely 

 access to the weeds. Sheep will also crop down the young 

 sprouts that spring up around the stumps of trees that 

 have been cut down, and in this way they hasten decay 

 in the stumps. 



Sheep give a dual return annually. They give a re- 

 turn in lambs and also in wool. This is true at least of 

 the females that have reached the age for breeding. Other 

 meat-making animals give a return in meat, except in the 

 case of the dairy cow. This capacity to give a dual return 



