FATTENING SHEEP WHILE GRAZING I9I 



sary to introduce them cautiously lest digestive derange- 

 ment should result. 



Finishing on western grain fields — On western grain 

 fields a large amount of valuable food for sheep remains 

 after the crop has been removed. It remains in the form 

 of fallen heads during the processes of harvesting and in 

 the form of weeds of many kinds, which in many in- 

 stances carpet the ground because of the numbers in 

 which they are present. In many instances also they con- 

 tain weed seeds which contain fattening properties, as 

 those of wild buckwheat. If given the opportunity sheep 

 will gather and consume many of the fallen heads, much 

 of the matured weed seeds, and a large proportion of the 

 herbage that grows on the ground amid the stubbles. 

 The area that may be thus grazed is very large, but such 

 grazing is not without its difficulties. 



Among the difficulties to be met the following are 

 prominent : (i) The almost entire lack of fencing makes it 

 necessary to maintain a herder during the period of graz- 

 ing. (2) The harvest, especially in northern areas, is fre- 

 quently so late that the duration of the period for graz- 

 ing is short, too short in many instances to put a good 

 finish on the sheep or lambs before the ground freezes. 

 (3) As the ground is to grow grain the following season, 

 the aim is to plow it before winter, and to accomplish 

 this it is necessary that the plowing be begun as soon as 

 possible after the grain has been harvested. Nevertheless 

 very large flocks of sheep have been thus grazed with 

 profit to the owners, since the pastures are obtained with- 

 out cost. If the finishing can be completed on mature 

 corn grazing, it is usually an improvement, as such graz- 

 ing may frequently be continued after other grazing has 

 been destroyed with frost. 



Where the farm is fenced, the finishing of sheep thus 

 in a moderate way by farmers whose families may furnish 

 the requisite labor should prove profitable. The fenced 

 farm, or a part of it, makes it possible to keep the sheep 



