Voi.. LXIX. No. 40f>3 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 10, 1910. 
WEEKLY, fl.00 PER YEAR. 
MUTTON SHEEP ON EASTERN FARMS. 
Good Opportunity for Farmers. 
Never in the estimation of the writer was there a 
more opportune time for eastern farmers to invest in 
a small ilock of the best type of mutton sheep than the 
present day. The well-tilled eastern farm, situated in 
close proximity to a large village or city, is an ideal 
place to establish a flock of mutton 
sheep. The day of the big range and 
the big feed-lot is steadily passing. 
Tightening competition and prohibitive 
feed bills are having a .blighting effect 
upon the western sheep feeders. The 
man who buys his sheep and lambs from 
the range and his feed in the market is 
compelled to dispose of his sheep when 
they are conditioned. The packers arc 
always alert to seek advantage, and when 
the psychological time comes there is a 
break in the market. When this con¬ 
dition hits hundreds of large feeders 
simultaneously the possibilities of profit 
are eliminated. The sheep must lie 
dumped on an overloaded market and 
sold for what they will bring. On the 
other hand, the eastern farmer who 
keeps a (lock of from one to 200 excel¬ 
lent mutton sheep, and raises nearly all 
of the necessary feed to maintain and 
.condition them for market, has an all- 
the-year-’round business; besides this he has the addi¬ 
tional advantage of having the best of markets right 
at home every month in the year to induce him to try 
to excel in mutton production. 
A careful study of the history of the mutton sheep 
in England and the methods of flock-handling prac¬ 
ticed by- British shep¬ 
herds would essentially 
aid us in placing our 
flocks of mutton sheep on 
a money-making basis. 
At one time the feed-lot 
was a prominent factor 
in the mutton production 
of England, hut competi¬ 
tion with the world elim¬ 
inated the profit of ex¬ 
tensive sheep feeding. 
Since tlie passing of the 
big feed-lot and the elim¬ 
ination of the speculative 
element of the industry, 
high-class mutton sheep 
have tramped prosperity 
and fertility into the 
farms of Britain. These 
farm flocks of England 
have successfully met the 
competition of the world, 
in the face of a free trade 
policy in wool. What a 
marvelous lesson to the 
breeders and feeders of 
mutton sheep in America ! 
The success of these 
British flock-owners in making money out of carefully 
handled flocks of mutton sheep, especially in the face 
of a free-trade policy in wool, suggests greater possi¬ 
bilities for flock-owners in America; a country having 
the highest protective tariff on wool enforced by any 
great nation. How has it been possible for the English 
sheepmen to accomplish such results? Because of the 
fact that pound for pound of forage, roots and 
grain consumed the mutton sheep is capable of render¬ 
ing more profit than any other kind of farm stock. The 
British farmer is usually an expert shepherd. He 
breeds mutton sheep of the best type and the highest 
quality, and fattens them with the greatest skill and 
the best of feeds, lie has learned by years of thought¬ 
ful experience that the sheep is an animal that will re¬ 
spond to painstaking care and kind treatment from 
birth to sale. Here in America the average farmer 
harbors a fallacious belief, handed down by tradition, 
that the sheep is a sort of scavenger whose mission is 
A COUPLE OF MAINE SHROPSHIRES. Fir;. 372. 
turning the odds and ends of what is raised on the 
farm into dollars, toning up the soil and keeping down 
weeds and sprouts. In the dark ages of our agricul¬ 
tural development it was permissible that the keeping 
of sheep be based in part on such pecuniary grounds. 
But differentiation accompanies development; as the 
A GATHERING OF MAINE SHEEP BREEDERS. Fig. 373, 
country begins to show signs of agricultural maturity 
its appreciation of the sheep increases. The declining 
fertility of our naturally productive lands is beginning 
to show that crop growing and live-stock feeding are 
economically inseparable; that there must be some ade¬ 
quate return made to the farm for what is removed 
from it in the form of grass, cultivated crops or fruits. 
In evolving a system of live-stock feeding adapted 
to the eastern farms, experience proves that we must 
cut . away as much as possible from the prohibitive 
feed bill. We must feed animals- that are able to turn 
our farm feeds into dollars without purchasing large 
amounts of supplementary grain foods. Accumulating 
experience of the day and the history of sheep feeding 
from its early stages in England and in America show 
that sheep arc capable of turning such feeds as Al¬ 
falfa, clover, rape, peas, corn, oats, barley and roots 
into more pounds of palatable and nutritious meat than 
any other kind of stock. This fact, coupled with the 
constantly growing demand for prime 
mutton from the large eastern cities, is 
convincing proof that the eastern farmer 
who buys a few choice ewes from the 
best mutton breeds, and follows in the 
trail blazed by the flock-owners of Eng¬ 
land who have made sheep pay, will be 
prepared to gather in a harvest of golden 
shekels in the years to come. 
What branch of sheep feeding shall 
we follow? That depends upon the 
farm, the equipment, its proximity to 
market and the likes and dislikes of the 
individual. There is a steady demand 
for the hothouse lamb or the mature 
wether, or all ages between—provided 
always that the animal is properly con¬ 
ditioned and protected from inclement 
weather. Sheep will not thrive if neg¬ 
lected—that much may be believed from 
the start. Given good care and plenty of 
suitable feeds and they are the most-do¬ 
cile and profitable meat-makers that can 
he kept on the farm. It is astonishing to observe the 
waste of opportunities in marketing half-fed, poorly 
conditioned sheep and lambs, and how little care 
American flock-owners take of their sheep. The most 
discouraging feature of the question is the fact that a 
large percentage of this abominable stuff is contributed 
by the owners of farm 
flocks, who should be 
supplying the markets 
with the best quality of 
finished lambs and mut¬ 
ton. A good deal of this 
Stuff possesses good blood 
and would make good 
mutton if trimmed, 
docked and properly con¬ 
ditioned, but in the un¬ 
couth shape in which it 
is generally marketed it 
means expense, loss and 
risk without any com¬ 
pensation. Such a waste 
of opportunity is inex¬ 
cusable. 
It is not necessary that 
we go to a great expense 
building an elaborate 
equipment to handle hot¬ 
house lambs until the 
flock has. been placed on 
a profit-making basis and 
we have gained the ex¬ 
perience and knowledge 
required to conduct this 
highly specialized branch 
of the business. It is necessary, however, that we 
treat the sheep in a manner adapted to their nature; 
start right with good breeding ewes; mate them with 
the best mutton rams and turn our finished products on 
to the market in the shape for which buyers will pay 
fancy prices. The small flock of the best type of mut¬ 
ton sheep on a well-managed farm in the Eastern 
States will prove a money-maker for the man who has 
a clear-cut conviction of just what he wants, and is 
willing to stay with his sheep until he has learned the 
details* of the business. w. M. KELLEY. 
