4 Sheep-Farming 



owners a choice only as to how much or what kind 

 of stock shall be kept. Various factors determine 

 whether one farm or one locality should be devoted 

 mainly to the keeping of one special class of live- 

 stock or to giving equal place to each of two or three 

 classes. 



Farms or localities of so rough or hilly nature as 

 to have to be used mainly for grazing can undoubt- 

 edly be best used for special sheep-farming. Such 

 country affords the sheep the closest approach to 

 its natural life and offers less to contend with than 

 is found under less natural surroundings. Many 

 steep hillsides now being cultivated in some states 

 would yield much larger net returns if kept in good 

 grass and grazed by well-bred and carefully tended 

 sheep. Small non-productive parts of farms can be 

 utilized during some months for the maintenance of 

 flocks that at other times may be used to utilize the 

 waste and part or all of the crops produced on the 

 remaining acres. This does not apply to land that 

 is non-productive because of being wet, although 

 some breeds have been produced that are specially 

 adapted to low lands. 



Sheep for intensive farming. — Because of being 

 peculiarly useful in utilizing waste lands, the value 

 of sheep for answering the same purposes as do cattle 

 and swine has not usually been realized. The in- 

 tensive farming practiced on highly valued English 

 lands gives sheep-raising almost as important a 



