Nebraska advertiser., 1861-12-26
NO. 25.
Which are the most Profitable
Sheep2
Discussion at TIE Ohio agricultural Con-
venfion.


UCRtiOn.
Mr.. Townshend, of Lorraine, said be
was not prepared to settle this question.
L; was not settled in his own mind. Ny
fathers flock of sheep were, formerly,
LieeesteTs. but are now mostly COsswolds
Of late, however, we are gettieg back to
Liecesters again. Land with Us is too
high to devote TO wool growing, hence
we raise meat and grain for market
Our flock averages about six Po1nds Of
wool per head, and this sells at from twen-
ty-6ve to forty cents per p0und-perhaps
averages Jhirty-three cents. We sell all
our weathers at from two to three years
old, and have received as much as Sl6
per head for those that would dress for
ty pounds to the Quarter, when it is worth
ten cents per pound in New York. We
frequently sell for from FIVE to ten dol.
lars. The wool brings about as much
per fleece as fine wool Leicester sheep
make excellent mutton. The LincOlns
and COtswOds are rather large and coarse
heshed. My opinion IS, thar for north-
ern Ohio the LieCesters are better than
any other. Southdowns give fine NUT
ton, bat less Of it and less wool. No
sheep keep well ~On hay alone, but all
sheep pay for shelter and grain In win
ter.
Chester Palmer, Of Geauga county,
said he had an experience Of twenty-sev-
en- years ia wool growing. He commenc.
ed with the Spanish Merino, descended
from the Wells and Dickinson flock. He
goes on the principle Of raising the sheep
that viii give the greatest yield Of fine
wool to Tie acre. | selected my first
flock Of ewes with particular reference
TO their eonstituuonal vigor. and crossed
them with pure Silesian bucks. The re-
suit was they yielded me four pounds and
two ounces per head Of clean wool. No
other is raised by me. It is not fair to
sell dirt for wool, and then say your sheep
averaged so much wool. This year l
sheared four hundred sheep, that yield.
ed five pounds, worth fifty cents per pound
Large sheep cannot be herded IN such
numbers as small ones, without deterior-
aing in size. His experience with the
French Merino sheep has satisfied him
that they are not the most profitable sheep
His Spanish and Silesian sheep gave %
per cent more profit than sheep raised
from his largest ewes crossed with one OF
Mr. Bingham's best French Merino bucks
He is decidedly IN favor of fine wool, and
a csoss between Silesian and Spanish
Merinos.
Mr. Chamberlain Of Clark county, said
be had been breeding Spanish MeEinOs
for a number Of years, and claims they
have more constitution, Will bear more
exposure, and flock together better than
any other treed. He had focked the
Longwools and the French Merinos with
the Spanish. and found the latter always
the best. His sixty head averaged SIX
and lhree-fourths pounds per head. lie
sowed rye to pasture kis ewes on at the
season of Iambing, and likes the prac-
uce.
Mr.. Quinn, of Columbiana. Very
fine wool with him had proved failure.
He kept the Spanish and CotswOld breeds
and the latter took on three pounds flesh
to one of the former. They are very
quiet, eat and lie down, while the fine
woods roam about the fields to see what
they can find, and tbs work of their food.
Gets about twice as much for Cotswold
wether as for a Merino, and is not insul-
ted when he takes them to market At
five months old his long wool lambs are
heavier than fine wool sheep ever get to
be. Mr.. Palmer was asked if he can
keep as many to the acre as Of fine wool,
to which he replied in the affirmative.
MIR. P.sthinEs he can keep three fine
wool sheep where he could keep but one
| coarse wool.
Mr.. Quinn thinks coarse wool worth
more than farmers usually get for it
He usually sells his forr foriy-ive cents.
He summed up by expressing The opin-
ion that coarse wooled sheep are twice
as profitable as fine.
Mr.. Easton of Huron County, says
| that those who can make most by raising
wool, should raise fine wooled sheep
Those who can make the most by mutton
should raise the coarse wool. This de-
pends partly on nearness to market, and
partly on the the character Of the conn
Try. On hilly land, fine wool sheep do
the best; bu; he thinks in level coun-
try the coarse wool do the best.
DR.. Townshend remarked that more
fine wool sheep could be kept on an acre.
but the difference was not In proportion to
their weight A welher that weighs two
hundred or three hundred pounds, will
eat more than a small one. The Span
ish MerinO sheep is very active in It's
hrbits, runs about a great deal, and needs
more food than if it was quiet. The
coarse breeds of sheep have good diges-
tion, and hence convert a large portion Of
their food into fat. The Leicester has
a splendid digestion. / think that three
coarse wOoled sheep will eat about the
same as four Of fine.
Unity results from compression; union
from attraction, A barrel is a forced
I unity, a9d falls into pieces at the break.