PREFACE 



WE have in this country today a few good breeders of sheep, and 

 their work has been good; and although more of their kind are 

 needed and better breeding needs to be encouraged, I find my attention 

 drawn to the commercial and farm flock. 



During the early winter of 1918, I was introduced to one of Illinois' 

 best cattle feeders. We talked sheep and the sheep business a little 

 while, and as I walked away I heard him say to his commission man: 

 "Why didn't you teach me the sheep business? I know that I would 

 like sheep ; I need them on my farm and have always wanted to handle 

 them, but I don't want to try raising or feeding them and fail at it, 

 as so many of my neighbors have done." This statement, by a suc- 

 cessful cattle feeder, set me to thinking of the great need for informa- 

 tion and education of the right sort regarding sheep, and resulted in 

 my decision to offer this little book on the subject. I wish it under- 

 stood, however, that I am not offering this as a complete work on 

 sheep or sheep feeding, and that my principal object is to point out to 

 the honest seeker after some practical information, the kind of animal 

 he is doing business with, and the methods necessary to insure success. 



I will try to show in this little volume how the farm flock can be 

 kept at a profit; how to care for, fatten and feed sheep and lambs for 

 the market; what the market demands are; and, if possible, create a 

 greater demand for mutton and lamb by offering some excellent recipes 

 for preparing and serving this food. 



The product offered on the market, only too plainly shows lack of 

 information on the part of the men who are trying to handle sheep. It 

 has been well said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, 

 and so while the producer has been schooled along certain lines, he has 

 failed, because one especial fundamental has not been thoroughly pointed 

 out to him, namely, the real nature of sheep. 



Nature has given to every living thing in the animal kingdom, some 

 means of defense or protection. The sheep, in a prehistorical period, 

 may have been fleet of foot, and with its horns was amply able to take 

 good care of itself among the beasts of prey. The sheep of today is in 

 reality a product of man's ingenuity. This animal has been, through 

 domestication, schooled entirely away from his native state, and is a 

 helpless thing but for man's protecting arm. The American farmer 

 needs to know, when he turns his sheep out to rustle for themselves, 



