THE CULTIVATOR. 
61 
CflmmuuuatiotLSL 
Management of Sheep—-No. 10. 
Messrs. Editors —In my two last, I treated of matters 
very essential to the welfare of sheep during the Avin- 
ter season; and it is to be hoped that, sooner or later, 
farmers will learn that it is an axiom, that as the com¬ 
fort and welfare of their domestic stock is promoted, 
in that ratio will he their profits. 
My present chapter will embrace that which differs 
not materially from the practice of thousands of wool 
growers, yet, varying very essentially from the great 
mass of farmers—consisting of order, full feeding, and 
regularity of feeding. 
As regards economy, I am very willing to concede 
that I may be behind many others; hut this matter will 
he discussed hereafter—here stating, however, that I 
am governed, as regards materials for feeding, as many 
others are, by circumstances; which when made known, 
your readers will perhaps admit that I am not far from 
the right path. Agriculture, by means of societies for 
its promotion, is making rapid strides in this country 
towards perfection ; and there is no branch of it, per¬ 
haps, in which greater improvements have been made, 
than management of stock. Still, there are many er¬ 
rors to reform, and much yet to learn—especially in 
regard to sheep husbandry. I am satisfied that the 
declaration made in a former number of this series, 
namely, that management of sheep, with a view to the 
greatest profit, is comparatively in its infancy in this 
country, is true to the letter. This remark, however, 
is intended to be general in its application, not doubt¬ 
ing but there are many instances where the highest 
point of economy has been attained, and thereby the 
greatest amount of profits realized. But lay not the 
“flattering unction to your souls,” that even one of 
you has reached this point. I am free to confess that I 
have not, and the communication of your correspondent 
“ Niagara,” in the January number, has fully confirmed 
me in this belief. No, it will never answer for any 
man to settle down in the belief that he has attained 
the point of perfection in any thing; for surely as he 
does, he will either not advance at all, or begin to retro¬ 
grade. We ought to be willing not only to make some 
experiments ourselves every year on a small scale, and 
make the result known through agricultural papers, 
but adopt the successful experiments of others. For 
my own part, I have adopted one of the improved , as 
well as approved , methods of management of sheep, in 
regard to protecting them from the terrible storms of 
winter. It was with me, at first, an experiment, al¬ 
though having so much true philosophy about it, it 
could hardly be termed such. It was successful, and 
ever despising a spirit of selfishness, I have, irksome 
as it truly has been, communicated all the advantages 
resulting from it, through the columns of our farming 
publications, that others might be henefitted likewise. 
Now, if I have not offered in former chapters, reasons 
and facts enough to convince all on this point, let such 
as are yet sceptical, go to work and experiment on a 
small scale. If they have a hundred sheep, let them 
select twenty-five of them, embracing all ages; let the 
sheep be marked, and also their progeny, and be kept 
entirely separate from others; and at the end of two 
years, provided they adopt the course of management 
I have heretofore, and hereafter shall recommend, in 
all respects, if every position I have taken is not fully 
confirmed, let them come to me, and the trifling expense 
incurred for hovels shall be reimbursed. But they will 
find it no lottery business. 
With a view to method, I shall begin with my mode 
of treatment of lambs. 
It has been stated in a former chapter, that at the 
time of rearing, they are divided into flocks, varying in 
number, from one hundred to one hundred and twenty- 
five j a larger number herding together being deemed 
incompatible with their welfare. About the first of 
November they are yarded, and graded as to size and 
condition; and, also, the flocks reduced to about one 
hundred each. This matter of grading should always 
be attended to by every farmer; for, although he has 
not more than fifty or one hundred lambs, there will al¬ 
ways be a few, either from diminutive size, or low con¬ 
dition, which require to be separated from the larger 
and stronger, and extra care bestowed upon them ; by 
neglect of this, formerly, my losses were considerable. 
At this time, too, there will be found some which need 
tagging,- that is, the filthy locks cut off: this if not re¬ 
ally necessary, yet is indispensable to good appearance. 
For, what looks more disgusting, or sounds worse than 
clattering ding-balls: thunder to my ears is music in 
comparison. The two or three old sheep which were 
put with each flock at the time of weaning, to tame and 
facilitate changing from pasture, are allowed to remain 
with them, for the purpose of learning them to ap¬ 
proach the troughs and eat grain, which, at about this 
time I begin to feed. Use is made of oats, and only 
about two quarts to the hundred is given for several 
days ; which should be scattered so thinly as to reach 
the whole length of the troughs. This quantity is not 
enlarged for a -week or more, by which time nearly all 
will have got a taste, and acquired a fondness for them • 
after this, the quantity is gradually increased to half a 
bushel, and this amount is continued to be fed, daily, un¬ 
til about the first of January. 
Here I deem it necessary to give my reasons for be¬ 
ginning thus early to grain my lambs, with some other 
remarks, which I hope will not be thought prolix or di¬ 
gressive. 
It is the practice of the great majority of farmers, to 
allow their sheep to run upon the fields in the fail, 
wiihout hay or grain, as long as the ground is uncovered 
with snow. This is decidedly wrong, and should be often 
adverted to by you, Messrs. Editors, in terms of strong 
condemnation. The grass, it is generally conceded, af¬ 
ter repeated freezing, loses much of its virtue to nour¬ 
ish, and, ceasing to grow, the pasture becomes ground 
into the very earth; and, therefore, sheep can not ob¬ 
tain a sufficiency to keep up their good condition, with¬ 
out the addition of a little hay given once a day, or 
grain. The diminution of flesh may not be very appa¬ 
rent, yet, depend upon it, they are all the while losing 
stamina and strength; and so well satisfied am I of 
this, from experience and observation, that I consider a 
late fall rather an evil, than a good, to the generality of 
farmers, so far as their stock is concerned. I have ex¬ 
postulated frequently with farmers on this subject, and 
have been told by some of them, that they did throw 
out hay to their sheep, but they refused to eat it; but 
on further investigation it proved to be the tops of then- 
stacks, something not worthy the name of hay, and no 
wonder the sheep rejected it, preferring the decaying 
grass to such trash. Here, by the way, is a confirma¬ 
tion of my remarks in reference to the utility of barns, 
made in my last: for there is no time in the month of 
November, that my sheep refuse to eat barn hay; and 
this arises not from any greater deficiency of pasture 
than is usual on all farms at this season. I respectful¬ 
ly conjure you, my brother farmers, to reform in this 
matter altogether. Begin by the middle of November, 
or earlier, if necessary, to either grain all your sheep a 
little, or give them a small quantity of hay: let it be 
good, and they will be certain to eat. Do not think by 
withholding either, or both, that you are practicing a 
piece of economy. Verily, Messrs. Editors, I am not a 
believer in man ghosts in these matter-of-fact days, but 
if the ghosts of departed sheep were permitted to walk 
the earth, to tell the whys and wherefores they were 
sent untimely out of this “ breathing world,” many 
would shake their woolly locks at us, and say, “we did 
it,” by half starving them in the months of November 
and December. Peradventure any should appear, I be¬ 
lieve, at least, that the ghost of a sheep is an “ honest 
ghost,” and may be fully credited if it charges against 
farmers the crime of inattention and inhumanity. 
About the first of January, by which time the season 
is so far advanced that lambs will eat hay with avidity, 
I suspend feeding grain to several of the best flocks, 
and to these it is not resumed regularly until the first 
of March or thereabouts; after which, it is not remitted 
till the foddering season expires. With the inferior 
flocks there is no interruption, but receive daily their 
half bushel of oats up to the time they are turned to 
pasture. When this period arrives, some twenty or 
more, as the case may be, of the most inferior are se¬ 
lected, and these I continue to grain until about the 
first of May. This will generally be found necessary 
in all large flocks. During the winter, should there be 
any among the better flocks which are declining in 
flesh, they are immediately taken out, and put Avith the 
inferior, as these, of course, receive extra attention and 
care throughout the season. This last point should ne¬ 
ver be disregarded; and it is equally applicable to 
groAvn sheep. 
It Avill be Avell here to remark, that I consider it un¬ 
safe, and therefore umvisc, to grain sheep in the morn¬ 
ing on an empty stomach, for the reason that all kinds 
of grain are more or less stimulating, andAvill therefore 
be very apt to induce purging, especially with lambs. 
If it produces not this effect, it Avill engender a kind of 
fever producing an action on the pelt, Avhich causes the 
avooI to drop from it. My practice is, always to feed 
grain in the middle or latter part of the day. But a 
contrary course, adopted by many farmers, as Avell as 
feeding too much at a time, has laid the foundation of 
the prejudice AA r hich they entertain against oats as food 
for sheep. But there is another cause of their preju¬ 
dice. Many alloAV their sheep through mismanage¬ 
ment, to get pretty near the bottom of the hill, before 
a step is taken to bring them back; and too late they 
attempt to restore their emaciated condition, by giving 
oats or other grain. As I have before observed, grain 
is stimulating, and in proportion to the quantity fed, 
and its effect upon a poor sheep, if suddenly given in 
too large quantities, is like a boivl of rich turtle soup, 
or other very highly seasoned food, to a man in the last 
stages of the consumption. To shoAv that oats is, like 
much else in this world, a good thing, I will state the 
fact, that I commenced the winter Avith five hundred 
and thirty-five lambs, and up to this time, (21st Feb.) 
have lost but two ; both of Avhich Avere mortgaged to 
the ci-oavs before foddering season commenced: and 
furthermore, from a particular inspection this morning 
of all the flocks—and my lambs receive my personal 
attention exclusively—I found not one affected with 
scours, neither haA^e more than half a dozen been so, 
any time this Avinter. I Avill further say, that if good, 
condition, and the life and elasticity of deer be a gua¬ 
rantee against loss, not more than one or tAVO more Avill 
go over the dam this season. In my next I Avill intro¬ 
duce a table, the result of actual experiment, will sIioav 
that oats stand third in nutriciousness of the various 
grains, as Avell as something else, to prove that, if fed 
at all, nothing is cheaper. 
That something more than hay is requisite for lambs, 
and young stock in general, would, in these enlightened 
days, be folly to deny. The truth is, Ave can not begm 
too soon to lay the foundation for vigorous constitu¬ 
tions ; and if there is any virtue in grain to promote 
this, it should not be Avilhheld. Very many farmers 
are too short sighted in their calculations : they sacri¬ 
fice large prospective profits to small immediate gains. 
They sell all their grain of every kind, and alloAV their 
young stock to take it rough and tumble through the first 
winter ot their existence, and the consequence is, a stinted, 
unthrifty, and short lived race. Management like this 
has caused the domestic animals to look as they do, on 
three-fourths of the farms of our widely extended coun¬ 
try. The splendid Durham, the Leicester, and South 
Down sheep, and Berkshire hog Avould degenerate soon* 
er from this disgraceful cause, than any other. Out 
upon such short sighted, parsimonious management. 
Feed tAA r enty-five cents worth of oats or other grain, to 
each of your lambs, and it will be returned to you at 
the end of five years, forty times over, by a hardier 
constitution, greater size, more wool, more vigorous and 
numerous progeny, and longer life. If there ever was 
a truism, this Avill be found one. 
My best hay is always appropriated to the lambs ; 
which is fed to them in box racks—a description of 
which Avill be found in my next. When the weather is 
very cold, hay is given three times a day: the second 
feeding, hoAvever, is A r ery light as in the middle of the 
day they are grained. The troughs, varying from some 
I have seen, and more economical, will be noticed here 
jxftcr 0 
I have noAV given an outline to your readers of a 
mode of management Avith respect to lambs, with rea¬ 
sons, also, and facts to sIioav that it is entirely success¬ 
ful. I have written hurriedly, and if any thing essen¬ 
tial has been omitted, it will be supplied in my next, 
Avhich Avill “positively be my last appearance” on the 
subject of winter management. L. A. M. 
Lansing, Tompkins Co. N. Y 
A New Variety of Sheep. 
Messrs. Editors—T he opinion seems to have be¬ 
come general Avithin the last feAV years, that avooI of 
the finest quality can not be groAvn so profitably, as 
that of a medium grade. The reasons are, that the 
fine Avoolled sheep (Saxons) carry lighter fleeces, re 
quire more protection as Avell as extra food during win¬ 
ter, rear fewer lambs, are smaller in carcass, and are 
slower in arriving at maturity than some of the coarser 
varieties; and the increased fineness of their avooI does 
not compensate for these deficiencies. It is also noto¬ 
rious that our manufacturers do not make any thing 
like a just discrimination in prices, betAveen medium 
wool and that of the higher grades. 
It is not necessary here to discuss the question, whe¬ 
ther the defects of the Saxons, such as we find in this coun¬ 
try, are inseparable from this breed of sheep. My own 
opinion is that they are not, at least to their full extent, 
and I have so expressed myself on former occasions. 
Candor, hoAvever, compels me to admit that my opin¬ 
ions in relation to this breed have undergone some 
change. But whatever may be the inherent defects of 
the Saxons, there can be no doubt that their reputation 
has suffered less from these, than from the gross frauds 
practiced in their introduction into this country, and 
the subsequent mismanagement of our breeders. A 
detailed statement of the several importations of them 
which took place between 1824 and 1828, (the epoch of 
the Saxon mania,) has been made public, in which the 
fact is disclosed, that a large portion of the imported 
sheep Avere not pure, and, in many instances, scarcely 
half blooded animals. In language used on a former 
occasion, “ our country Avas flooded by eager specula¬ 
tors with the grade sheep and refuse Merinos of Ger¬ 
many. Fineness of avooI during the period of this 
strange excitement, Avas made the only test of excel¬ 
lence, no matter hoAV scanty its quantity, no matter how 
diminutive or miserable the carcass.” The samevieAvs 
unfortunately continued to influence our wool growers. 
The legitimate consequences of breeding with reference 
to a single point, (fineness of wool,) to the exclusion 
of all others, were soon apparent. While there are 
many individual exceptions to the remark, many men 
who haA r e kept up and even improA r ed the quality of 
their flocks by a more judicious system of breeding, it 
will not be denied that the mass of American avooI 
groAvers, have suffered their Saxons to become as Ave 
have described them, light fleeced, feeble constitutioned 
and diminutive sheep. 
The question then has arisen, with what breed shall 
their place be supplied? Many have turned their eyes 
toAvards the “ old fashioned Merinos.” This undoubt¬ 
edly Avas a very valuable race of sheep, but not Avith- 
out their defects, and these of a serious if not a deci¬ 
sive character. It is knoAvn to all that they spring from 
the same common stock with the Saxon, or rather they 
are the parent stock from Avhich the Saxon descended, and 
possess, Avith greater or less modifications, the same 
distinctive traits. The fleece of the Merino, quantity 
and quality being taken into the account, is perhaps as 
near the standard, in which the greatest profit is to be 
found, as that of any other variety. It is of a quality 
the most saleable, and which brings the fairest remu¬ 
nerating price in our American markets, and any im¬ 
provement in its fineness, accomplished by breeding, 
is usually, if not inex'itably, accompanied by a counter¬ 
balancing diminution in quantity. But the Merino, like 
the Saxon, is sIoav in arriving at maturity—is decidedly 
deficient in the points Avhich constitute a good mutton 
