Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural New Yorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
Vol. LX XIV 
SHEEP IN THE EASTERN STATES. 
A Sensible Statement About Them. 
orOII PASTURES.—Many agricultural writers 
seem to think that much of the rough and 
brush-covered land of the Eastern States 
would be most profitable for raising sheep. Sheep 
will not keep down the red raspberry and many of 
the young tree growths as well as cattle, and it is 
my experience that sheep, if pastured on an old 
pasture'continuously, will become so badly infested 
with worms, especially during wet seasons, that the 
losses by death of sheep will exceed the profits. I 
am certain that those farms of the Eastern States, 
where intensive farming is practiced, can be made 
to pay better with cows than with sheep. Yet. here 
in Washington County. N. Y., more than one-half 
the work done on the farms is done by the farm¬ 
ers themselves; the dairy business is very confining. 
and the hired man is in many cases most uncertain. 
<>n the other hand, if one can be content with a 
moderate income, sheep can be made to pay a fair 
return on the investment provided the man likes 
sheep and is willing to give to the business of mut¬ 
ton and wool-growing his undivided attention. 
A MERINO FLOCK,—As an example. 1 have a 
farm in the southeast part of Washington Co., 
X. Y., containing 130 acres of cleared land. The 
land is slightly rolling and was formerly wet. but 
is now drained so it will all grow good crops of 
corn, oats and hay. The past year 17 acres were 
corn. 14 acres oats, five acres oat and pea hay, 40 
acres of hay. and rest of it was pasture. This is 
about the usual rotation, and with a purchase of 
three or four tons of bran and one or two tons of 
oil meal usually furnishes feed for 160 to 200 De¬ 
laine Merino ewes and 30 to 50 of the same breed of 
lambs, of which the ewes are kept to keep the flock 
good. The rest of the ewes have grade lambs that 
be'-cin to come in September and continue until 
February 1st. The fine wool lambs come in March. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 13, 1915 
Thus it is customary to sell 2.000 pounds of wool 
(Delaine) 20 or 50 fine-wool wether lambs one year 
old, shorn in March or April and 20 to 30 old De¬ 
laine ewes for mutton, also 100 or more grade lambs 
three to four months old as hothouse lambs. The 
ewes average over 10 pounds per fleece, which sold 
for 24 cents last year. The tine-wool lambs shorn 
usually sell for six cents and old ewes for four 
to five cents. 
HOTHOUSE LAMBS.—The hothouse lambs are 
not nearly as profitable as formerly, as they now 
bring from $5 to $7 at 10 to 14 weeks old. The 
sheep are kept in flocks of 40 to 100 at pasture from 
May 1st to November, when they are usually turned 
on rape sown at last time of cultivating corn. This, 
it it is as it should be. will last a month, and will 
I nit them in fine condition for Winter, when they 
are housed in basement barns where they have 
running water and salt at all times. They have 
corn fodder, oat and pea hay. or clover hay and a 
grain ration one pint each per day, one part oats, 
one part bran, and two parts corn. The lambs also 
have the grain ration taken from the Washington 
bulletin on lamb feeding. 1 want to say right 
here that the hay and fodder is all cut in season 
and cured and housed with the least possible ex¬ 
posure to the weather. Late-cut hay is never fit 
to feed to sheep, and corn fodder that is not put 
up as it should be is poor stuff. I can get just as 
much milk from my sheep fed on Timothy hay, cut 
while it is in blossom, as I can from clover. There 
are SO young lambs in these barns, ranging from 
one to 50 days old. and not a poor or pinched look¬ 
ing lamb in the lot. and they and their mothers are 
fed as stated above. I think the lambs grow just 
as fast as they do in Summer, and of course are 
free from worms. 
WORK INVOLVED.—The work is all done on 
this farm by the owner, his wife and one man, who 
is employed throughout the year. There is the in¬ 
come from 100 hens, one acre of orchard and two 
No. 4297 
litters of pigs are fattened and the surplus sold. 
Due cow furnishes milk and cream, and three horses 
are kept. I wish to emphasize a few points that 
I consider necessary to profitable mutton and wool¬ 
growing in the East. 
BREED AND FEED.—Delaine Merino ewes, some 
of which must be bred for enough ewe lambs of 
the same breed to keep the flock good, the remain¬ 
der bred for early lambs. I prefer either a Shrop¬ 
shire or Dorset cross. Second, thoroughly well- 
drained land that can be plowed often to keep out 
parasites. Wet land will cause lame sheep. Third, 
a variety of foods in first-class condition for Win¬ 
ter. and a change of pasture as often as possible in 
Summer. Fourth, the owner should give his atten¬ 
tion to the business and see that the weaker sheep 
are given a good chance, and the old sheep culled 
out and fattened for market. 
THE DO(J NUISANCE.—I have kept sheep for 
over 30 years and lost just one by dogs, but some 
of my neighbors have not been so fortunate. 1 once 
knew a case where two dogs killed over 20 fine 
ewes in a few minutes in the daytime. That con¬ 
vinced me that no dog should be allowed to run at 
large except on owner's premises, and I have tried 
to enforce my opinion. We have a rifle, a shot 
gun and two wolf-traps. Our near neighbors know 
that we do not like dogs, and keep their dogs at 
home, which is the only place where they are of any 
use to their owners. They do not like those wolf- 
traps, as they make a dog lame, and there is no 
law against farmers catching wolves in traps. The 
guns are useful for hawks, woodchucks and scaring 
the stray dogs, and if you chance to hit a dog. dead 
dogs tell no tales. We live within six miles of two 
large villages and three smaller ones, and wander¬ 
ing dogs were once a common sight about the farm, 
but the above treatment has made them a rare sight. 
I think a woven wire fence could be made to stop 
dogs, if a barbed wire were placed at the top and 
bottom. h. r. p. 
