l86 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



is based to a considerable extent on his own personal 

 experience. It should also prove one of the cheapest 

 methods of fighting weeds that can be devised in areas 

 where sheep are an important factor in agriculture. But 

 while land is so abundant such intensive methods of pro- 

 viding food for sheep will probably be not much prac- 

 ticed. The little labor involved in keeping sheep on grass 

 pastures is one of its strongest recommendations, while 

 the system outlined involves much labor. It is just a 

 question for those who are willing to pay the price. 



The influence on fertilization is favorable. This 

 arises, first, from the fact that the food grown is con- 

 sumed on the land ; second, from the fertility brought up 

 from the subsoil in the crops grown, a large part of which 

 goes back again on the cultivated strata ; and, third, from 

 the growing of such crops as cowpeas, soy beans and 

 other quick-growing legumes to provide grazing. True, 

 there is some fertility removed in the flesh and the wool 

 produced, but experience has shown that lands treated 

 thus produce bountiful crops for a time subsequently to 

 such treatment ; hence the inference would seem legiti- 

 mate that there was increase in available fertility to more 

 than offset the decrease resulting from what was re- 

 moved in the flesh and wool. 



There are some serious difficulties to be met and 

 overcome by those who graze sheep thus intensively. One 

 of these is the labor involved. Under existing conditions 

 that is one of the most serious, but when a family is 

 growing up of an age to render help, the difficulty is so 

 far removed. A second is the cost of the fencing called 

 for. A third is the increase in land required to grow 

 crops thus in quick succession, and a fourth is the im- 

 perative demand made upon the team labor of the farm 

 when it can ill be spared from other work. The fact re- 

 mains, nevertheless, that the production can be increased 

 enormously when sheep are largely grazed on such sup- 

 plemental foods. 



