492 
Adirondack Sheep Notes 
Seldom, if ever, do I see anything re¬ 
garding the sheep industry from this sec¬ 
tion of the State, though in this county we 
have a good many flocks, but nothing like 
what there were 15 years ago. Now, with 
the advent of long prices for both wool 
and mutton, farmers, as never before, are 
beginning to see the profits in sheep. Not 
so long ago, every farm in this part had 
at least a small flock ; some kept more, 
some less. The drop in wool, and the 
lessened demand for lamb a few years 
back, sent the bottom out of the sheep 
industry. Today we see things in quite 
a different sphere. The Western range 
is no longer the breeding ground of the 
thousands it once was. Small homesteads 
now dot the landscape, where once roamed 
the world’s largest flocks. The. war has 
decreased the sheep herds in foreign lands. 
Many of the finest breeding stud flocks of 
France and England are no more. Our 
population is increasing; the crying need 
of wool and mutton is more keenly felt 
each succeeding season. There is one 
solution—the small farm flocks of the 
East. Our own State alone is capable of 
producing 10 times the present output; 
perhaps much more. 
Here in Northern New York, on the 
Adirondack hills, is one of the very finest 
sheep countries in the world. Here we 
have the high rolling lands so admirably 
adapted to the breeding of sheep. There 
is no country where they do better. 
Stomach worms are almost unknown; 
feed is of the best: soil and climatic con¬ 
ditions. des-pite our cold Winters, are 
ideal. Our farmers are waking up as 
never before. They all want sheep, but 
the stock is not to be found. Those who 
were wise enough to stay with the sheep 
still refuse to sell, and those who want to 
start cannot get the ewes for a foundation, 
in large quantities. I have stayed by my 
flock, each season breeding more and bet¬ 
ter lambs, until I now have a baud I am 
proud to show those who are interested. 
A few years ago. when almost every 
farmer kept sheep, Ave could find in almost 
every flock traces of many breeds, from 
the wrinkly Merino down to the long-wool 
Leicester. Owners did not pay so much 
attention to the quality of their sheep as 
they did to the quantity. Now we find 
that after the depression and the flocks 
are disbanded, that th'ose starting anew 
are trying not only to get sheep, but bet¬ 
ter sheep. This is a right step. When I 
first invested in a purebred ram at a long 
price the neighbors said I was losing my 
“buttons.” But I always noticed that 
some of them Came round early in the 
Fall and asked to borrow the ram. I 
have alAA'ays been willing to loan my fine 
rams to those whom I believe would give 
them good care, often at a loss to myself, 
but in the end I do not feel I ever was 
sorry. Two seasons back when I started 
to rake the country to find a few choice 
ewes to increase my flocks. I found that a 
good many, and. in fact, about all that 
were desirable, could trace immediately 
to some of the Cheviot and Shropshire 
blood Avhich I had brought in in years 
gone by. I also found that by paying a 
little advance over the ‘market price I 
could buy almost any sheep in many of 
the flock’s. While this was my gain, it 
was a losing gain to the owners. Last 
Fall T bought every good available ewe 
that I could get. regardless of a reason¬ 
able figure. Generally farmers, who had 
one or more dry ewes Avere Avilling to sell 
them without much coaxing. They 
seemed to figure that as long as she failed 
to raise a lamb that year she Avas no 
longer of value as a future breeder. I 
was careful to examine the udders of 
these eAA'es, and in some cases I did find 
that they Atere ruined, so far as another 
lamb crop was concerned. These ewes. 
Avhen fat. I sent to the butcher. The 
others were sent to a separate farm, 
where no sheep had been kept for 11 
years, turned into a good pasture, salted 
regularly, and when September came T 
put with them one of the vei’y finest 
Dorset rams I could. buy. Noaa\ Feb¬ 
ruary, I am lookiug with lots of pleasure 
upon the finest bunch of grade Dorset 
lambs I have ever seen. 
It is never any trouble for me to get 
up in the middle of the night and go out 
to the fold ; this is one of my greatest 
pleasures. To date, from 23 lambs born. 
I still have 23. Not a weak one in the 
bunch, not a ewe that lacks milk. We 
have nice box stalls in a warm barn, and 
when a ewe shows signs of lambing avc 
put her in one of these stalls all by her¬ 
self. When the lambs come I am “.Tolinuy- 
on-the-spot.” I keep the boxes well 
bedded with clean hay, and when a lamb 
is born use a blanket to dry it as soon 
as possible, and see that it gets some of 
the ewe’s first milk within a few minutes. 
If it is not strong enough to. stand and 
suck, say in 10 minutes. I milk the. ewe 
into a bottle and feed the lamb AA T itli a 
nipple. In every case the lambs are up 
and looking for another feed in a very 
short time, and then all the trouble is 
over. Keeping each ewe by herself for 
two or three days, especially if there arc 
twins, is a sure preventive of disowning 
the lambs. Usually where twins are 
born in a flock the first one gets up and 
wabbles away to some other part of the 
stable, and as the mother is about to 
deliver another she forgets the first one, 
and often the result is an orphan lamb. 
Try this, and see if I am not right. On 
cold nights a half barrel with a lantern 
inside and a blanket spread over the top 
is a fine place to drop a new-born young¬ 
ster, while you are drying the other one. 
While young lambs will stand lots of 
Vhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 15, 1919 
cold, it is far better to have a comfortable 
stable where the water will not freeze. 
We have our lambs come as soon as 
possible after December, and it is a rare 
thing that we ever lose one. They are 
then ready to go to market in May, or 
even earlier, and the ewes go to pasture 
and are fat and ready to. breed again the 
following August or September if desired. 
If you want to get early lambs, try a 
Dorset ram ; I care not what breed or 
kind of ewes you have, the Dorset ram 
will get them : n lamb much earlier than 
any other ram you can use. and there is 
no sheep in the world that is a better 
farmer’s sheep than the Dorset. . The 
lambs, even from the first cross, will re¬ 
semble the purebreds more than any breed 
Ave have ever seen or tried, and they will 
outgrow any other, at the same, age, on 
the same feed, unless perhaps it is the 
Black-faced Highland. 
All of the improved breeds of sheep 
are adapted to our Eastern farms; some 
perhaps better than others, but I'll wager 
that I can take any breed of sheep here 
in Northern New York and make them 
not only pay, but pay Avell. It is. a lot 
in feed, more in breed, but more in the 
man Avho carries the feed pail than all 
the rest. You cannot get blood out of a 
stone; you cannot'draw money from the 
bank if you do not put any in; at least 
it is a bad practice to do it. 
If you are so situated that you can 
keep a few ewes, do not wait; get busy 
noAV. If you cannot buy them in your 
immediate section, go to the purebred 
man. If you cannot buy as many as you 
want, get tAVO or three, or more, as the 
case may be. When I started Avith Dor- 
sets I bought one, a ewe in lamb. Then 
I sent for another as soon as I could dig 
up enough money. From these I started 
my foundation. . It is surprising how fast 
you can grow into a good flock. After 
you get 10 ewes they double rapidly, and 
soon you are in a position to sell some 
There* is no stock that we can keep, 
especially in Northern New York, that 
will bring more clear profit than sheep. 
They require but little work as compared 
to dairying or other lines of stock breed¬ 
ing. We know they will eat lots of Avaste 
feed, but do not get the impression that 
they will live on faith. It is well to 
have faith, but better to have more char¬ 
ity, especially for the flocks. 
Don’t let the menace of curs stop you 
from starting your flock. The cur man 
will soon be of the past. Our New York 
farmers are waking up to the fact that 
sheep pay better than roving dogs Avkich, 
when caught, seldom have an owner. It 
is the common dogs that do the damage; 
not the breeder of purebred dogs. The 
latter takes care of bis stock; they are 
confined to his kennels, and Avhen night 
comes he knows where they are. Not so 
with the man in the town, who has from 
one to a dozen that must forage for 
themselves. avillet randaix. 
Warren Co., N. Y. 
Bloat 
What is the matter with my cosset 
lambs? One of them bloated up and 
died. She Avas opened and her stomach 
had a very little watery fluid in it. Her 
intestines were empty. I feed them one- 
half pint of separated milk every three 
hours. I put a little calf meal in it. 
They haA r e grown beautifully; one al¬ 
most as large as the ones with the sheep. 
I did not feed quite so much Avhen very 
small. They are three weeks old uoav. 
I hate to lose them. I can hardly sell 
them in the Fall. I did not have trouble 
last year with them. I lost one. I 
thought she avos OA r erfed. She drank so 
fast and she got more than her share one 
day Avhen the children fed them. To¬ 
night one lamb is bloated. I gave it 
castor oil. I will be very glad to know 
liow I can raise them all. a. b. l. 
NeAV York. 
Indigestion caused the bloat and that 
comes from too fast drinking, from over¬ 
feeding or from infecti\’e matter from 
feeding utensils not kept scrupulously 
clean. It was correct to give castor oil 
and avc should advise you to mix one 
ounce of lime water in each pint of milk 
fed to any lamb that shows a tendency 
to bloat. Also omit calf meal and sub¬ 
stitute flaxseed jelly, as an experiment. 
It prevents constipation. Have the lambs 
take their milk slowly. A. s. a. 
Stick to One Breed 
I hasten to take issue with Jason Gar- 
lock, who, on page 233, states that a good 
race of cattle can be obtained by crossing 
a Jersey cow with a Holstein bull. To 
most practical stock raisers the practice 
of cross-breeding purebred stock of any 
kind is a doubtful one, but I firmly be¬ 
lieve that crossing Holsteins and Jerseys 
is the most doubtful of them all. About 
15 years ago I Avorked for a man who 
owned a herd of registered Jerseys. About 
half a mile from him Avas a man of con¬ 
siderable means who also owned Jerseys. 
He became dissatisfied with them and pur¬ 
chased a Holstein bull “bred in the pur¬ 
ple” to head his herd. The man 1 was 
working for said it would not work, as 
Holsteins and Jerseys would not mix. or 
“nick.” as he called it. Time proved that 
he was right. The venture was a miser¬ 
able failure from every standpoint. The 
race of cattle which he secured from this 
union was not as good as the pure blood 
of either race. Not only this, but the 
calves from this large Holstein bull were 
so large that his Jersey coavs had all 
kinds of trouble calving. Some Avere 
ruined, while other Avere more or less hurt, 
and I have had exactly the same experi¬ 
ence myself, so I cannot but conclude that 
such a cross is a failure, without one re¬ 
deeming feature. My advice to C. M. 
would be to keep one breed or the other, 
and let it go at that. Let me give him a 
little brotherly advice, and that is to get 
into the Guernseys; they have size and 
quality. george j. fisher. 
Go., N. Y. 
Western Electric 
Power and Light 
For every power use, this direct-connected set will 
furnish the electricity at low cost 
The Western Electric Company believes that electric power will do for farming what it has 
done for other industries. It believes that every business farmer will consider the pui chase of 
a sturdy, dependable power plant when offered by a manufacturer with unlimited resources 
for making good every promise. It backs up this belief by offering the Western Elect; ic 
Power and Light plant in one neat, compact unit—the result of many years of experimenting. 
The entire plant stands about 4Vi 
feet high. The engine burns kero¬ 
sene or gasoline; is throttle'governed 
and air cooled. 
The plant automatically startsitself 
at the touch of the starting lever; oils 
itself automatically; feeds its own fuel 
automatically by a vacuum feed sys¬ 
tem; automatically gives a tapering 
charge, to the battery; stops itself 
when the battery is fully charged. 
Every automatic feature that can add 
to simplicity and reliability is found 
on this Western Electric Plant. 
Small motors for pumps, cream 
separator, fanning mill, etc., can be 
operated directly from the generator 
thereby saving the battery for use at 
night. Many farmers are already 
using the Western Electric Utility 
Motor, a Ye horse power motor which 
can be carried to the work. 
The Western Electric man near 
you will demonstrate this plant to 
you—and tell you about the many 
Western Electric labor savers for 
farm and home: all have been proved 
practical on farms everywhere. 
Write for booklet No. 14-RNY end we will tell 
the Weetern Electric man to get in touch with you. 
THE WESTERN ELECTRIC CO., Inc. 
195 Breadway, New York, N. Y. 910 River Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
410 South Clinton St., Syracuse, N. Y. 413 Huron Road, Cleveland, Ohio 
11th and York Sts., Philadelphia, Pa. 129 Government Square, Cincinnati, Ohio 
The fuel Is poured into the base of 
the engine which burns kerosene as 
well as it does gasoline. 
