1904. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
871 
VAN ALSTYNE’S SHEEP NOTES. 
Feeding Lambs in Winter. 
I should be glad to have the opinion of 
some of your sheep men as to whether it 
will pay to feed lambs this Winter to sell 
for mutton next Spring. If so, as the 
best breed and feed; also when it is best 
to market them? Will it pay to shear 
and send them without their fleece? r\ i>. 
Rensselaer Co., N. Y. 
I have always received market prices 
for feed and a nice profit besides, as well 
as a lot of the very best manure, when¬ 
ever I have fed lambs for market. 
Whether it will pay F. I), this Winter will 
depend first on himself. No animal needs 
as careful looking after to make them 
thrive as a shearling lamb. First as to 
the kind of feed he has for them; last 
the sort of lambs he has to feed. We 
will take up the last proposition first. To 
put in lambs that are fat and nearly have 
their growth will seldom pay, as the gain 
in weight will be comparatively small, and 
the selling over purchase price ordinarily 
will not be enough to afford much profit. 
Neither will it pay to feed large framed 
late maturing lambs unless one wishes to 
feed very long in the Spring. This will 
prevent taking advantage of a favorable 
market that often comes in February or 
March, and often the food stfpply runs 
low. However heavy a lamb may be, to 
bring the top price it must be fat. 
I like a compact but growthy lamb of 
the Shropshire or Southdown type, that 
will weigh in October from 40 to <‘>0 
pounds. These lambs can often be found 
in sections where pasture is abundant, and 
the lambs come late, and are not in best 
condition to go to market for mutton. 
In buying in any of the markets like 
Buffalo or New York there is always 
some danger of their having been exposed 
to diseases like foot rot or scab. These 
can usually be bought for four or five 
cents per pound, which is at least a cent 
less than they will sell for when fat. 
This increased price on the original 
weight is all clear gain. Such will not 
only lay on fat as well as mature sheep, 
but will grow in frame. They should 
weigh when ready for market from 80 to 
100 pounds. On a particularly growthy 
lot I once put on five pounds a week from 
December 1. 
The most trouble is to get them started. 
Such' lambs have never tasted hay or 
grain, and if taken suddenly from pas¬ 
ture to Winter feed it will often be sev¬ 
eral days before they will eat enough to 
make any gain. The better way is to put 
troughs in the field, and with some salt 
put a little corn. The troughs must be 
placed so the lambs will not dirty them 
with their feet, and what they do not eat 
taken out each night and the trough swept 
clean; they will soon get to like the corn. 
Then put them tip at night before pasture 
is entirely gone, and sprinkle in the racks 
a little early cut clover or fine hay. Any 
that they leave must be removed, and feed 
fresh for the next night. This is always 
a prime necessity. Feed that sheep have 
once breathed over and left they will not 
touch again unless they are starved to it. 
Neither will they do well if the troughs 
or racks are dirty. In this way they can 
be gradually changed from the pasture to 
Winter feed. By the time this reaches 
the questioner they should be in Winter 
quarters in any event. There is no 
growth in the frozen grass from now on. 
They must have dry, well ventilated pens 
and not be allowed to get wet, with access 
at all times to water. They should be in 
flocks of not more than 50 and divided as 
to size and thriftiness. Then if some out¬ 
grow the rest they can be put with those 
that are larger, and any that are not do¬ 
ing as well as the rest, and likely to be 
crowded out, can be put back with the 
smaller ones. They must have the bright¬ 
est and best clover or fine hay. Coarse 
Timothy fed to lambs will never bring 
market price, or the lambs either. 
I have Found it best to give the grain 
and roots in the morning, as we want 
them to eat all of this they will. Then 
the hay afterward; another feed of grain 
the latter part of the day and the hay 
again. Small amounts twice a day will be 
more readily e.aten than a larger quan¬ 
tity in one feed, and will well pay for the 
extra time. Roots are a necessity, and 
their place will only be partially filled by 
silage. As to the kind of grain, corn will 
be the basis as we want to fatten, say 
from one-half to two-thirds of the ra¬ 
tion. Yet with it must be something to 
grow the frame. What this will be de¬ 
pends on price. Oats are excellent. So 
is wheat feed. Linseed meal in moderate 
quantities will add to the variety (and 
sheep like different feeds), and will help 
keep the bowels in good order. The quan¬ 
tity per head must be determined by lambs 
themselves. Give no more than they will 
eat with a relish, and slowly increase the 
amount as they will take it, remembering 
that if they get an over-feed it may take 
a week before they will again eat enough 
to make any growth. That is why I say 
it depends first on the man, who must 
look after the little, but important things. 
Years ago when wool was high, we al¬ 
ways sheared before sending to market. 
Of late years we have not done so. With 
the increased price of wool, this year may 
be an exception. The shearing costs 
about 10 cents a head. They will shrink 
some, particularly if the weather is cold, 
and bring about a cent less per pound 
without the fleece. e. van alstyne. 
HEREFORD CATTLE IN SOUTHWEST 
VIRGINIA. 
Southwest Virginia is a high moun¬ 
tainous country interspersed with rich 
valleys with fine, clear streams fed by 
thousands of fine limestone springs, many 
of them large enough to run the mills of 
the section. Most of these mountains are 
of a rich limestone formation, and wher¬ 
ever the timber has been removed are 
covered to the very tops with the finest 
natural Blue grass, and will always re¬ 
main so, for much of the land is too steep 
to plow and never had a grass seed sown 
on it. The steeper pastures are where the 
cattle arc kept until 2]/ 2 years old, and 
they arc then moved to the smoother 
farms and fed corn on the pasture fields 
during the Winter, and finished on grass 
the next year for the export trade. They 
are eagerly sought after by the large ex¬ 
porters every year, and often sold months 
in advance of shipment. Just before the 
Civil War quite a number of fine, large 
roan Short-horns were driven to this sec¬ 
tion from Kentucky and they soon spread 
over this country, until we had as fine- 
type of beef cattle as I have ever seen in 
this country or England, but along in the 
seventies the fashion changed to color 
and tribes, and in a few years we had the 
little fine-boned delicate red Short-horn 
cows that did not suit our section at all. 
I had been an owner and breeder of "both 
of these kinds, until about 12 years ago 
I bought a registered Hereford bull and 
began using him on these red cows. The 
improvement was so, marked from the 
start that I soon found a demand for my 
young grade bulls, and I soon had 15 or 
20 of them placed in the surrounding 
counties. It soon became an established 
fact that whenever a grazier or a feeder 
got one of these white faces in his lot of 
cattle the white face was always found on 
top in order and quality at selling time. 
I am now breeding the purebreds and 
find good sale for my young bulls, nearly 
all of them going where Short-horns 
were formerly used. The Hereford has 
proved . so hardy and such a hustler in 
this section that a number of our best cat¬ 
tlemen have gone west lately and bought 
Hereford stockers. The largest Short¬ 
horn breeder of this section bought nearly 
100 head of white faces in Kansas City 
this Fall. I can always sell my grade 
yearling or two-year-old steers at one- 
fourth to one-half cent over the general 
market price. h. b. howe. 
Dublin, Va. 
A Balanced Ration.— I am well pleased 
with The It. N.-Y. I like Mr. Man¬ 
chester’s notes, and on the teachings of his 
articles, beginning with last Fall. I tried 
to feed a balanced ration to my cows—the 
result; From October 27. 1903, to Novem¬ 
ber 1, 1904, 1 sold $484.75 worth of milk 
at 3 '/> cents per quart from live grade Hol¬ 
stein cows; adding four calves would make 
over $500. i. d. a. 
Calcum, Pa. 
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Separator S 
Tubulars Find Gold 
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Good butter is worth 20 to 30 cents a 
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CUTTING 
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